


stay golden when we're black and blue

by softtofustew



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, ChanLix, HYUNSUNG, Humor, M/M, basically all my ships in one long ass fic sorry not sorry, seungbin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-01-26 22:41:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 43,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21381784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softtofustew/pseuds/softtofustew
Summary: as the guardians of the forest, seungmin, hyunjin, felix and jisung are your average teenagers by day, protectors of the forest creatures by night. little does seungmin know that they're about to fight ogres and trolls (and dragons!), acquaint themselves with a witch (and his short, grumpy apprentice), and ward off evil forces from the forest. or the one where seungmin falls a little in love while fighting off sleep and creatures only heard of in fables and folklore.
Relationships: Bang Chan/Lee Felix, Han Jisung | Han/Hwang Hyunjin, Kim Seungmin/Seo Changbin
Comments: 98
Kudos: 319





	1. misfits, rebels, we're creeps and freaks

**Author's Note:**

> title's based off of outsiders by against the current.  
welcome to my first chaptered fic in forever! you're about to enter a dastardly mess. pls ignore inaccuracies with any latin words/mythological elements; i've incorporated them in my work with a personal twist. below is the playlist for this work. enjoy!
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1r9P3Vv9bvr27RwhSWlc9M?si=B8GqA4GwQSupnZLf9olh8Q

seungmin is at the edge of his seat. figuratively speaking, because in actuality he’s trudging through a forest with mud already crusting the soles of his boots. figuratively. 

“could you guys just _ stop _ making out for one goddamn second?” he sighs noisily, pursing his lips at his two friends a little way ahead of him. hyunjin’s got jisung pressed up against the trunk of an old oak tree, a low-dipping branch hanging just over their heads as hyunjin presses his lips against the other’s (again!) 

hyunjin pulls back, snickering. “what, kim seungmin? jealous?” he teases lightly, as he retrieves his staff from where he’d laid it against the trunk; the diamond orb at the tip glistens in the setting sun. seungmin refrains himself from spelling that branch falling onto their heads. 

from behind seungmin, felix shakes his head, laughing softly. a soft smile plays on his lips. “c’mon, jinnie-ah. don’t play around; we’ve got a long night ahead of us,” he says, voice cracking a little at the edges - seungmin presumes it’s from how loudly he’d screamed after yesterday night’s debacle. (seungmin had screeched like a banshee, too, but he’s not going to admit that in front of the others right now.)

jisung pushes himself off of the tree, carding a hand through his hair. “i still don’t get it. what _ are _ we looking for right now?” he points out, pressing his lips together. he readjusts the leather gloves he has on - he’d insisted on them instead of usual cloth ones to look ‘hella cool’, and of course his boyfriend had done nothing but egged him on. 

“well,” seungmin glances around at their surroundings. all around them, they see nothing but the thicket of trees, leaves tumbling from overgrown branches and undergrowth bursting from the roots of the ancient oak. the _ argentum silvam _ is at least a few thousand years old, wild and untamed, restless and alive. the scent of dew still clings to the leaves, even as the sun is beginning to dip below the horizon. “i guess we’re looking for clues.”

“let me just say,” jisung announces loudly, “that i do not want to bump into fucking _ ogres _ again. last night was enough of an ordeal for me - for _ us _, i believe.”

the other three nod their heads in unison. seungmin feels his skin burn at the remembrance of yesterday night - being charged at by the monstrous creature, its red eyes staring daggers at the lot of them. if it hadn’t been for felix shooting his arrow straight at the monster’s heart, they might well be nothing but a pile of bones now. 

as they turn a corner, hyunjin grumbles, “so if we’re trying not to run into any ogres, why the hell are we still out here?”

seungmin clicks his tongue. “don’t be so ignorant,” he admonishes. “there’s never been an invasion of ogres before, jinnie-ah. which means something’s up with the _ cavum nigrum _. it’s never had such monsters invading the forest before. we need to find out why.”

“and what? risk the fae getting mass murdered? might as well,” jisung sniggers. “they’re always pulling pranks on us and spraying glitter all over us. do you know just how many times i had to explain to my mum why i had to spend two hours in the shower?”

“that’s only because you used up all the hot water, babe,” hyunjin chuckles, ruffling his boyfriend’s hair. “and it’s only been twice.”

felix readjusts the strap of his bow, slung across his shoulder. “personally, i’m worried,” he says. “we’d never had to encounter such huge creatures before. what if it sends more ogres? or creatures more powerful?”

“then we’ll face them,” seungmin answers matter-of-factly. he keeps his chin up, not batting an eyelash as the mud squelches under his boots (he spells them clean every early morning, anyways.) “like we always do.”

technically, not always. the four of them hadn’t been doing this since they were young. about a year ago, jisung had dragged them all to the silver forest, for a science project of theirs. never had they in their wildest dreams even spared a single second thinking that they’d find a glowing amulet, let alone now be guardians of the forest about ten minutes away from seungmin’s apartment. 

it’s crazy talk, seungmin thinks. them, spending every evening roaming the forest until early hours, warding off evil forces that traipse the woods at night. them, armed with different forms of weaponry and powers to protect the other creatures in the forest that seungmin had only ever seen depicted in children’s folk stories. them, encountering creatures ranging from the tiniest of gnomes and the gentlest of elves to towering cyclops and problematic imps. 

it’s crazy talk, which is specifically why seungmin’s glad he doesn’t have to run a double life while covering it up from his closest friends. even if they’re a little cynical sometimes, seungmin rather enjoys the company, especially since you’d never know when you’d bump into-

“-goblins,” felix suddenly stops in his tracks. “fuck, fuck, _ hide _.”

immediately, felix and seungmin dive behind a bush, while hyunjin and jisung cower behind the thick trunk of a pine tree. seungmin’s heart leaps against his chest as soon as he hears the nearing footsteps of the little creatures scattering over. as the seconds tick by, the growling sounds grow louder and louder still, and come into an unnaturally loud crescendo-

“how many are there?” seungmin wonders aloud. ever so quietly, he peers up and over the bush to count one, two, three… eleven, twelve… twenty… 

“holy shit,” seungmin breathes. “there’s more than thirty of them. what the fuck?”  
“the other world’s acting up again,” felix mutters, hand already reaching for one of the arrows slung over his back in the special woven basket he’d gotten from the amulet - the infinite archer. “and these goblins look… weird.”

seungmin squints at one of them crawling across the muddy forest floor. felix’s right, the usual goblin is a dark green with bright yellow eyes, sniggering low. this one’s grey with streaks of white all along its spine, yellow eyes more neon than ever. it hisses at its comrades, gathering them closer, and closer, and closer…

“we’re _ so _ doomed,” felix mutters, breaths already erratic. seungmin places a hand to the small of his back, trying his best to smooth out his friend’s nerves; yet his own heart is a wild beast ngawing at its own cage as well. 

“we got this,” seungmin assures him. “just… stay calm-”

“-fuck, seungmin! look out!”

jisung’s ear-piercing shriek snaps seungmin to attention. a flash of white appears in his peripheral vision, and as quick as lightning, seungmin flings his arm out. his hand waves in the air, and the goblin is sent sailing over the bushes before crashing into an oak tree. 

within seconds, everything bubbles down into chaos. hyunjin aims his staff at a goblin flying towards him, and in a split second, a black hole opens up and the goblin is hurling straight back into the _ cavum nigrum _. jisung leaps out of his hiding spot, shooting webs of sticky film over the pair of goblins racing straight at him. the sticky film stretches over the two goblins, and they disintegrate in mere seconds.

behind him, felix grunts as he aims and shoots at a goblin scuttling overhead amongst the branches. “could use some help here!” he hollers, shrieking as a goblin falls from a higher branch. seungmin grumbles, spelling the goblin away with a flick of his wrist.

the amulet glows an angry blue where it’s pinned upon his shirt as seungmin snarls, sending three goblins hurtling into the air. the goblins hiss, growling as they encircle him. their spiny legs curl up, ready to pounce on him. their eyes stay transfixed on seungmin’s figure, lured in by the glow of his amulet.

“for hell’s sake, go _ away _,” seungmin groans. nevertheless, the goblins chitter and chatter all at once, slinking up to his feet. seungmin rolls his eyes, before flicking his wrist and one-by-one, the creatures are screeching as they’re flung against the oak tree. 

hyunjin huffs, sweat clinging to his forehead as he opens up yet another portal; though effective, his energy is drained from opening up the holes back to the cavum. “god, how many of them _ are _ there?” he shouts. he heaves his entire body at an incoming army of goblins, screeching as they bound into the portal.

seungmin glimpses around. it’s as if there hadn’t been any killed goblins at all - there’s still more scattered across the forest floors. “what in the world is going _ on _?” he breathes, wiping at his brow before wiping out another goblin. 

“hey, could you, like, say one of those chanting spells? like yesterday?” jisung shouts above the din of screeching goblins. he shoots a web at another creature, his face twisting into disgust as goblin goo sprays all over his jeans. “oh, fuck, _ ew _.”

“what? you mean the one we used against the ogre?” seungmin asks. a goblin makes a grab for his boots - _ not _ my _ boots _ , seungmin thinks, frustrated as he steps on it, goo splaying all over them.  
“yeah,” felix agrees. “you’re the only one who studied up the spells!”

“that’s only because the rest of y’all are lazy asses!” seungmin shouts back. they’d stumbled across a gnome before who’d nicked a book of spells a while back; they’d worked well before. seungmin racks his brain, thinking of a fitting spell to send all these goblins back. “i can’t think of one,” he admits, squashing on a goblin’s leg and sending it squealing in pain. “you want me to kill them all?”

“just send them away or something!” hyunjin groans, body doubling over from exhaustion. watching his friend absolutely wiped out from all the fighting kicks up something bubbling in seungmin’s gut; the words come to his head in a surge of adrenaline.

he glares down at the goblin sneaking up behind him. “**home is where you go!** ” he spells, eyes locking with the creature’s. in a moment, the goblin hesitates, whining as it cowers under seungmin’s gaze. “ **home is where you go, home is where you go** ,” seungmin chants loudly. “ **home is where you go, go home**!”

his entire body stands ramrod still, as he glares down at the goblin. a second ticks by, then another, and then the goblin whines again, squeaking as it turns its back to seungmin and rushes off. all the others whimper and do the same, dashing off back to where they’d come from. 

seungmin heaves a loud sigh. there’s a buzz of energy whenever he chants spells, which is rare unless it’s dire situation or where there’s a fitting spell in english (most are in roman, or latin, or some other ancient language.) as soon as he releases his breath, all the energy seems to seep out of his very being, and he has to lean against a (goblin goo-covered) tree. 

“god, seungmin,” jisung shakes his head. “that was so good.”

“please do not make me sound like a damn movie character, dumbass,” seungmin sighs, still catching his breath. “everyone okay?”

hyunjin and jisung glimpse at each other, before grinning as hyunjin leans in for a quick peck on jisung’s lips. “sungie, you did so well - did you see the goblins just disappearing under your web?”

“and look at you,” jisung sighs, wiping the sweat off of hyunjin’s forehead. “your sweat looks like glitter, so pretty.”

seungmin rolls his eyes, and he’s about to intervene when he hears a faint cough. all heads turn to felix, who’s sat down on a big boulder nearby, clutching his arm. his face is screwed up, wincing. his lower lip trembles. “um, guys?”

_ no, no, _ no. bracing for the worst, seungmin rushes over to where felix is sat, leaning down. “lix, what the _ hell- _”

“-i didn’t see it,” felix sighs, his voice shaking. slowly, he removes his hand, and seungmin sucks in a sharp breath. the skin of felix’s arm is split, probably from a goblin’s bite. there’s remnants of goblin goo clinging to the skin there, and fresh blood trickles down felix’s arm. jisung and hyunjin walk over too, and they wince at the sight.

after a few moments of silence, hyunjin clears his throat. “what do we do now?” hyunjin asks, concern laced in his voice. “we can’t just take him to a doctor. what if they identify some goblin DNA on that? they’ll question us.”

“they will,” a voice suddenly wavers in the air. shocked, all four of them swivel around to see a man leaning against the trunk of a pine tree. seungmin frowns at him. _ how long has he been standing there? _ he wonders. the man’s dressed in an all-black ensemble, dark cloak and dark basket slung on his arm. his dark grey hair falls past his eyebrows, and the corner of his lips quirks up into a small grin. “but i won’t.”

☽

less than ten minutes ago, seungmin hadn’t expected a) for felix to get bitten by a goddamn _ goblin _ out of all creatures possible, or b) for some dude dressed all in black saying mysterious stuff to them. “i’m sorry, but who are you really?” seungmin enunciates slowly, wary as he watches the man’s grin widen.

“me? chan,” he grins. “great to finally speak to you, seungmin. hyunjin, jisung.” he nods at felix still sitting on the boulder, his mouth open in awe. “felix,” he adds, revealing a dimple.

“how do you know all our names?” jisung asks, furrowing his eyebrows. he turns to seungmin, eyes wide. “i don’t have to kill this dude, right?” he adds, jerking his chin out at chan, who’s still standing by the trees. 

chan laughs heartily. his dark eyes glimmer in the last rays of the setting sun. “you don’t, because i’d probably kill you first,” he chuckles. “just kidding, of course.”

feeling unsettled, seungmin stares the other down as chan trudges over to where they’re standing around felix. “now, how about you show me that wound of yours-”

“-hold up,” jisung butts in, like he always does. seungmin’s still too surprised by the entire ordeal to even tell jisung off. “full name. age. address. occupation- wait, you look like you’re in college. or university. wait.” he gasps dramatically, pressing a hand against hyunjin’s arm. “are you a college dropout? is that why you’ve been stalking us? to join our foursome?”

“_ foursome _?” seungmin sputters, and hyunjin fakes gagging.

chan raises an eyebrow. “that’s a lot of questions,” he muses, but he still mulls over them. “bang chan, at your service. i’m twenty-one in mortal years. i live here and i _ technically _ don’t have a job; no, i’m not in college _ or _ university, and i’m certainly not a dropout.” he grins again; this guy’s starting to get on seungmin’s nerves a little. “does that answer all your questions?”

hyunjin blinks. “i still don’t understand. why do you live here? are you some fairy? elf? you look like none of them.”

chan shrugs. “oh, you know. you’ve just never stumbled across our coven before, that’s why.”

“coven?” felix pipes up. seungmin watches how pink felix’s cheeks are, and he’s starting to presume that it’s not just from the fighting earlier. “like, a witch coven?”

at those words, chan’s eyes light up. “at last there’s someone clever amongst the four of you,” he comments lightly, flashing felix a wink. seungmin catches how his friend shyly grins back before looking down at his worn-out sneakers. his eyes flit back to chan, who now has a hand on his hip. “you don’t realise it, but my friend and i have heard of you lot. warding the evil creatures off, protecting the forest… you carry the prophecy of the guardians of the forest - of _ course _ i know all your names.”

“but if you’re a witch,” jisung begins, still trying to process it all, “then why don’t you guys help protect the forest?”

“oh, no,” chan shakes his head furiously, grey locks brushing against his eyes. “never. we’re not the kind to ward off evil spirits; they’d rather feed on our magic,” he explains. “another reason why i’ve been watching you lot - you’ve been casting a few of my tricks up your sleeve, huh?”

now it’s _ seungmin’s _ turn to flush bright red. “look, we found the book from a gnome; he probably stole it off of you witches. and besides, it saved us. unlike _ you _.” he narrows his eyes into slits. “if you were watching us, why not help us?”

chan hums. “you’re the guardians of the forest; _ you’re _ supposed to help _ us _. and besides, i left my wand back at the coven.” he nods at the wound in felix’s arm. “now, how about we pause this chit chat and get your friend stitched up? pretty sure those weren’t the regulars earlier; you never know what poison they may have on their teeth.”

“poison?” felix turns as pale as a sheet. 

chan reaches down for felix to wrap his free hand around his wrist and hoist him up. felix stumbles, bumping into chan’s chest with a quick sorry. “‘s alright,” chan smiles softly. “and don’t worry, we’ll patch you up just nicely.”

seungmin tries desperately not to roll his eyes seeing how felix practically melts into the witch’s touch, but the keyword being _ tries _.

☽

“where the hell are you taking us?” jisung shoots, before almost getting clobbered in the head by a hanging branch. hyunjin reels jisung a split second away from a concussion, and their feet tangle in the midst. “oh, shit, dude, watch where you’re going!”

“why _ me _ ? watch where _ you’re _ going!” hyunjin sneers, crossing his arms over his chest and huffing in defiance. as the both of them squabble on, chan turns around to sneak a look at the pair of them.

chan chuckles. “ah, how youthful you all are. how old are you lot?”

pacing beside him, seungmin peers up to meet the witch’s curious eyes. “nineteen. we’re all nineteen,” he mutters. the sun has long disappeared past the mountains in the distance, and now night reigns, with the moon draping its light over the five of them, accompanied by the faint chirping of crickets in the distance. he’s exhausted, drained from the fighting earlier. he would _ kill _ to sit his ass down his bed right now.

the witch nods his head, as if thinking it over. “then i presume you all are in college? what about your studies?”

seungmin snorts. “believe me, we were all worried about that for the first month. after that, we’ve just been living off of coffee and an hour of sleep and sneaking around in the house,” he says bitterly.

in a way, guarding the woods is undeniably interesting and sparks something in seungmin’s gut, but he can’t help but wonder if he’d be doing better in law now if he weren’t suiting up every evening, amulet in hand. most mornings are spent stuffing an apple in between his teeth and rushing for classes that he’ll doze off in halfway through the lecture. it’s tiring, and seungmin’s beginning to wonder if there’s an early retirement form to fill in for this job.

clearly, chan seems to realise how affected seungmin is. “sorry if i sounded a little nosy. ‘s just that…” his voice trails off.

beside him, felix perks up from where he’d been eating the berries chan had been busy picking the whole afternoon. his lips are stained a crimson red from the juice. “just that?”

chan shrugs. “we’ve never had humans protecting the silver forest before. ever. we’ve only ever had the fae lead us… and not to be super mean or anything, but they’re fucking annoying,” he says nonchalantly, laughing. “i don’t know. they put glitter signs everywhere, and they always demand for me and my friend to attend their forest council meetings and shit.”

even the arguing couple catches on to those words. “forest council meeting?” jisung echoes, baffled. “that’s just weird.”

“and extra of them,” chan chortles. “my friend and i prefer the quiet, where we can practise on our magic, isolated from the other creatures of the forest. which is why we’re so far out here.”

“and who, exactly, is this ‘friend’ of yours? is he mr nameless?” seungmin asks inquisitively.

“why’d you assume the gender of my friend, mr kim?” chan asks back, but not with spite. his eyes glint even while basked under the moonlight. “but my friend’s a he, that’s true. and you’ll know who he is in a bit… oh, here, this path takes us straight to the coven.”

as they round a bend, the greenery seems to part down the middle, revealing a winding pebble pathway in the clearing. the oak trees here hang low, barely above their heads, cocooning them from the darkening skies and beckoning them further and further down the path. pink and orange anthurium flowers burst from tamely clipped bushes lining either side of their walkway. a smattering of fireflies flitter past the group of passers-by, some grazing seungmin’s cheek.

at the end of the path, seungmin can barely make out a quaint cottage house. white smoke pours from the chimney, slowly dissipating into air. seungmin raises an eyebrow at this, wondering where the smoke goes. as if reading his mind, chan grins at him and points to the brick chimney. “we’re eco-friendly witches. we’ve concocted a spell for the smoke to disappear into a harmless gas,” he says proudly with a beaming smile.

seungmin resists the urge to roll his eyes. after all, felix is still in chan’s arms, and if he were to trigger the witch holding onto his friend, it might just end in flames. besides, he’s learnt not to trust the forest creatures too easily; this first encounter with the witch is already playing with enough fire.

when they halt in front of the door, chan knocks against the door once, twice, three quicker raps, and one last knock. “changbin-ah? i’ve got visitors!”

for a moment, seungmin contemplates scooping felix into his arms and getting their asses out of there, but before he can even take one step, the mahogany wood door swings open to reveal a man, shorter than chan, dressed somewhat similar to chan. a tattered apron hangs over his own dark ensemble. 

seungmin tilts his head a little. to be frank, this man leaning against the doorframe looks more like a thug than a witch: narrow eyes, thin lips, dishevelled dark hair, bulging arms as he crosses them over his chest. “what’s this all about?” changbin grunts. his voice is nasal and low, and it sends a shiver down seungmin’s spine.

this is how he’s about to die. standing in front of an inconspicuous cottage home disguised as a murder house, with felix on the arm of a seductive witch and his other two friends grabbing each other by the asses behind him right now. he’s mildly surprised when changbin grumbles something under his breath and ushers them in.

behind him, hyunjin and jisung begin _ ooh _ -ing and _ ahh _-ing over the interior of the cottage house. admittedly, the place is small but somewhat cozy. the couch faces a coffee table, with yellowed books sprawled across the glass. the walls are tacked with torn-out pages and drawings and sketches, with a particularly gargantuan map occupying the middle of one wall. seungmin almost laughs at the chandelier illuminating the room, the only exquisite piece in the room of chaos and disorder.

“changbin-ah, these are our forest guardians; remember the ones i told you about yesterday? seungmin, hyunjin, jisung, and the injured pet here is felix,” chan gestures to them with a dismissive wave of a hand. “everyone, this is changbin, my apprentice.”

“apprentice?” seungmin hears jisung hiss into his boyfriend’s ear. “what’s that mean?”

“it _ means _,” changbin says gruffly, “that i’m under chan’s charge. a trainee of sorts.” he gives jisung a pointed look, who’s beginning to turn a stark white from the other’s bionic hearing.

“be nice to our guests, binnie-ah,” chan admonishes lightly. he guides felix to the couch, and sets him down gently onto the cushions. “now, stay put here. changbin, could you get the book?”

“the book?” changbin quizzes. his eyebrows knit together in confusion. in this way, seungmin is suddenly struck by how young the apprentice actually is, despite his cold demeanour. he doesn’t seem to be any much older than chan. “what book?”

chan rolls his eyes. “_ the _ book.”

“yeah, but _ which _ book? we own ten thousand books here,” changbin grouches.

“for the love of fae, the thick red book, gold binder, says _ BIG BOOK ON FOREST CREATURES _ on the kitchen island?” chan offers begrudgingly. it seems to the other four that these two have been together for a long time, judging from how changbin simply grunts and retrieves the book from the kitchen island. the book sails over the air, whizzing across the room and almost smacking seungmin in the process.

“hey, watch it!” seungmin shouts. hyunjin has to grab at his sleeve before he meets face-to-face with the encyclopedia of a book. he glares at changbin, who simply shrugs at him before striding over to where chan and felix are sat on the couch. “rude,” he sniffs, loud enough for hyunjin and jisung to burst into a fit of giggles.

on the other hand, felix remains quiet as chan skims through the pages in the velvet book. “ah ha! _ goblins. identifiable by their dark green skin and piercing yellow eyes. wounds are harmless if treated within seventy-two hours. _”

“they weren’t green, though,” seungmin pipes up. he walks over to where felix is sat and plops down beside him. noticing how tense his friend is, seungmin carefully takes up the boy’s hand and squeezes it tight. felix offers him a grateful smile. “they were dark grey, with these white lines running down their bodies. and their eyes… they were this fiery yellow.”

as if on cue, chan and changbin exchange knowing glances. chan chews on his lower lip. “dark grey, huh?” he echoes unsurely.

jisung nods as he shuffles around to face the two witches as well. “and there were so many of them. we’ve been ambushed by goblins before, sure, but this was a whole _ army _ of them. if seungmin hadn’t spelled them away, we might be dead meat right now.”

“what do you mean, _ spelled them away _?” changbin sneers. he narrows his eyes at seungmin, eyeing the boy up and down. “and how is this scrawny kid the holder of the amulet, anyways?”

“says the shortest in the room,” seungmin bites back, without any warning whatsoever. jisung inhales sharply, receiving a jab in the chest from hyunjin to shut up. both felix and chan smother a laugh behind their clenched fists.

the only ones unmoved are the guardian and apprentice. changbin grinds his teeth together in a desperate attempt to remain composed. “you little assho-”

“-truce, _ please _!” chan cuts in firmly. “this pet is dying under our very roof, changbin, and if you don’t help me out, we’re going to have to dig a gravestone in our own backyard. and i can’t imagine how pricey a human urn can be.”

out of the corner of seungmin’s eye, he catches changbin sneering at him, the curl of his lip unmistakable. “back to the _ actual _ topic at hand,” seungmin sighs. “what exactly are we facing? is the _ cavum nigrum _acting up or something?”

the witch’s eyes glisten with a sort of dread. he peers down at the weathered pages, the sketches of the goblins faded with time and age. without answering seungmin’s question, chan begins to mumble something incoherent under his breath. seungmin yearns to prod for answers, but he catches himself when he realises chan uttering words in latin.

“chan-” changbin cuts himself off, realising it too. all five of them remain transfixed in their positions as chan’s voice grows louder with every syllable. his ears flush pink, the only colour prominent from his dark ensemble, from the great effort. a blanket settles down upon the cottage in a low buzz of noise, gradually growing louder, and louder, and louder-

**facilis descensus Averni** . in an instance, the hefty book in chan’s hands transmogrifies into a darker shade akin to maroon, almost black. a wind whips through the cottage, tearing through the walls and coursing in their veins. seungmin feels his heart leap to his throat before sinking all the way down into his boots. _ is this what magic feels like? _ he wonders. even the amulet on his shirt rattles with the impact of the wind.

“holy-” jisung blinks, pointing a shaky finger at the book in the witch’s hand. “that… the book! it turned… black.” his voice is small and timid, still shocked from the abrupt spell cast by the man dressed all in black.

chan smiles, clearly intrigued by the four terrified faces before him. “you’re going to have to get used to that, kiddos,” he chuckles. his laughter is short-lived, however, when his gaze falls upon the pages before him. curious, seungmin stands to peer over chan’s shoulder, and his breath hitches in his throat. the lines and curves of ivory ink curl and entwine and cascade across the paper before his own eyes. the softer colours of the goblin evanesces, replaced by darker, bolder colours of dark greys and blacks and blues. he has to swallow as he watches the same fiery yellow eyes bearing holes in his own eyes as he stares down at the book.

“the book. the pages. they’ve… changed.” seungmin feels his knees buckle, and allows himself to sink back into the comforts of the couch. 

“it’s a spell i’ve been trying to perfect for a while now,” chan admits. he presses his lips together into a thin line. “and this is the first time it’s succeeded.”

all four of them exchange confused looks. felix seems to catch on first, and his lips part into an ‘o’ shape. “is it because we’re here? maybe because we have some memory of what the goblins look like?”

chan nods. “indeed, it seems to be so.” he swivels around to face a mildly surprised changbin. “i didn’t think that would work.”

“me too,” changbin confesses, his voice soft. he turns his attention to the four of them, who can only study the two witches conversing before them. “what chan just did… that _ spell _. it’s powerful. it reveals secrets no one wants to reveal, tells stories untold by all, unfolds the tricks and schemes of past inhabitants.” he swallows, and seungmin notices how painfully obvious his adam’s apple bobs up and down. “and he might’ve just solved your question, seungmin.”

“_ the greater goblin _ ,” chan reads monotonously. “ _ identifiable by their dark grey scaly skin, streaked with white or silver, eyes brighter than the normals’. bite is poison, must be cured within twelve hours with one queen of the night, three rolls of cinnamon, crushed, and ten ivy leaves, grinded, alongside the usual remedy for the normal goblin _.” 

“twelve hours?!” jisung cries incredulously. “felix is going to die in twelve hours?” immediately, he rushes to grip a frozen felix’s hands, curling them into fists and rattling them against his knees. “no, felix, don’t die yet! we haven’t even finished off all the stuff on our bucket list. what about scaling mount everest, or deep-diving into the pacific ocean?”

as jisung continues to wail in felix’s arms, hyunjin turns to chan. “where are we going to get all that? a queen of the night? cinnamon? _ ivy _ leaves?”

chan shrugs. “technically, we’ve got all that we need. well, except for the queen of the night.”

“what’s that?” seungmin quizzes.

“a flower,” changbin replies curtly. “or scientifically speaking, the cereus cactus. it blooms only at night, so i suppose we’re thankful for it being dark out right now. symbolically speaking, it’s defined as false hope.” 

meanwhile, chan skims through the pages, drinking in the sight of the transformed papers. “this is incredible,” he exhales shakily. “this book is centuries old, passed down from generation to generation of witches and warlords. i didn’t think the tale was true.”

“what tale?” hyunjin asks.

“the tale of this very book. indestructible by nature, false in looks. it reveals all these creatures and their greater beings,” he explains with baleful intent. he glimpses up to look at the four guardians. “the _ cavum nigrum _ is the black hole, kept silent and closed from the _ argantum silvam _, but every now and again, it opens up from brute force on the inside, and that’s where the four of you come in - to guard the forest like a sort of sentry. but in recent months they’ve become so powerful so suddenly, sending out the greater beings, like the goblins you faced today.”

something clicks like a jigsaw puzzle piece in seungmin’s mind. “and the ogre we bumped into yesterday.”

“you guys ran into an _ ogre _?” changbin asks, dubious. “those things are practically fables here, and we’re talking about the silver forest.”

“it’s _ true _,” seungmin bites back. anger bubbles in his gut at the superiority of the apprentice’s tone. “mind you, we almost got killed by it.”

“but here you are,” changbin snorts. “unfortunately.”

“not the right time to argue,” chan snaps. “you lot escaped in the nick of time. and before the two of you can ensue another argument, we’ve got more pressing matters at hand.” seungmin can clearly tell why changbin is the apprentice under the witch; chan seems to know what to do first. “we’ll need one queen of the night. hyunjin, jisung, i suggest you help me lug the cauldron from the back kitchen into this sitting room. i’ll start with the basic remedy. seungmin, changbin, the both of you search for the flower.”

“why _ him _?” changbin accuses.

chan rolls his eyes. “now don’t be childish. save that for when our pet’s safe and sound.”

“our _ pet _?” changbin splutters. he guffaws with laughter as he catches felix’s pinking face. “well, i see then. good luck, chan, with your flirting skills limited to that forlorn romance novel from the 1800s-”

“-mind you, pride and prejudice is a _ lovely _ work, if you spared some time to read it,” chan shoots back. and for once in what feels like forever that night, the four guardians end up giggling at the two witches’ antics.

☽

outside, the sky is overcast with rolling dark clouds splotched against the inky indigo sky, tainted with stars. seungmin turns his head upwards to inhale a breath of fresh air. he feels his shoulders loosen up almost completely. _ almost _, being the keyword, when death is fast knocking upon his friend’s door.

he doesn’t think he’ll get used to this. guarding not just the forest, but its creatures, and his own human friends. he doesn’t think he’ll get used to wiping out massive armies of evil forces or stumbling across witches or snapping at their apprentices, and now searching for a flower so rare that neither of the witches have ever seen in the vicinity of their cottage.

behind him, fallen leaves crunch loudly under changbin’s heavy footsteps. with his apron off, his outfit is visibly similar to chan’s, but with a dash of silver on his top and on the necklace adorning his neck. if seungmin squints, he might just make out silver eyeshadow as well, but he pushes that thought away. “if the queen of the night isn’t here, then where could it be?” seungmin asks.

changbin shrugs. “beats me. chan mentioned something about it growing close to the fae’s dwelling. it’s worth a shot, but you’ve got to brace yourself.”

“not the _ fae _,” seungmin groans. his last memory of them is the queen of the fae clogging her stupid glitter stick over hyunjin’s head and almost giving him a concussion when they’d tried to trespass their territory.

“i suppose you’re not a fan of them, either,” changbin chuckles dryly. he takes the lead, guiding seungmin down the pebble path taken earlier to the cottage. “believe me, chan and i do our very best to veer out of their sight. it’s a pain in the ass being the only two witches in this part of the forest.”

curiosity makes seungmin’s ears perk up. “how big is the _ argantum silvam _, anyways?” he queries.

changbin tosses a look over his shoulder. “massive, actually. neither chan nor i have scaled the entirety of the forest floors before.” he turns his attention back to the pathway before them, which gradually trickles into undergrowth spilling over the muddy grounds. “i don’t believe there’s any other witches in this area, unless they’re hidden away very, very carefully.”

“why’re you two so far out, though? i mean, other than for the sake of privacy,” seungmin asks again. he wonders why he’s attempting to strike up a conversation with this person who he’d been irritated at a mere ten minutes ago.

“when you’ve got spell books and power in your hands, everyone wants a piece,” changbin explains in a clipped tone. “greed doesn’t just lie in human nature; it runs in the veins of every creature. the fae who want control over everything in their wake. the gnomes who want to expand their prized collection of forest trinkets. the creatures of the cavum, who want to command the forest from their very grip by overtaking the land. greed is a mobius strip, never-ending. ever.”

silence replaces their words as they trudge deeper into the forest. seungmin’s legs begin to tremble from lethargy; he’d been up since 5 am to study for his stats test, and in between waking up and now, he’s played a basketball friendly, babysat his little sister and slayed at least twenty greater goblins. 

noticing the other falling behind, the apprentice swivels around to face seungmin. “you dying there, buddy?” he calls.

“somewhat,” seungmin gripes. he struggles to heave himself over a fallen, moss-covered log. he’s about to sail over the edge when a pair of hands abruptly grab at his arms. 

“god, you’re clumsy,” changbin sighs, setting the younger down. seungmin blinks at how strong changbin is, how easily he’d laid seungmin back down onto his two feet. he hopes the dark of the night hides his flushed cheeks. “isn’t it tiring? the guarding life? and you’re a mortal with your own human life, i presume?”

“yeah,” seungmin rubs his arm subconsciously. “i mean, first starting out gave a sense of excitement, a rare thrill in our boring routines, you know? a few months along the way, we’ve started to realise the underlying pressure of it all.”

changbin hums. “there was a huge debacle when the amulet chose you and your three friends,” he tells. “everyone here was bickering over whether it was right to leave the guarding in your hands; we’ve never had a mortal protect us before. the fae were ready to skin you all alive.”

seungmin scoffs and rolls his eyes. “well, isn’t _ that _ a surprise.”

their conversation comes in intermittent bursts, punctuated by nothing but the sound of crunching leaves and the chirping of crickets somewhere amongst the berry bushes. nightfall has brought a few pixies sneaking a look at the two boys from behind overhead branches, and a critter of jackalopes bounding past their feet, brushing against their ankles. their path is only lit by the blue glow of seungmin’s amulet, and the few fireflies flittering amongst them.

after what feels like an eternity of quietude, changbin pipes up, “i think we’re close. just… stay on alert.” the apprentice’s eyes dart from side to side, on the look out for any mischievous fairies lingering about. 

here, the leaves at the ends of the branches seem to glow faintly. there’s a sweet, sticky film hanging in the air, and it burns seungmin’s nose as he takes a dainty whiff of the air. flowers blossom in explosions of colour: pink, orange, violet and blue. they flow like a river across the forest floors, practically pouring from their roots. the fireflies flutter in greater numbers now, tickling the two boys’ sides. 

seungmin hums. “we’re close to the fae,” he whispers to changbin, who nods in return. they’re careful with every step, terrified to accidentally step on a closed flower bud; the last time that happened, jisung almost got banished from the forest altogether.

changbin suddenly halts in his tracks. “seungmin,” he calls. seungmin knits his eyebrows together as he nears changbin. “i think i’ve found it.”

white flowers peek out amongst grey ones, their centres a delicate yellow. seungmin’s heart beats wildly against his chest when the apprentice leans closer to pluck the flower. “wait, are you sure the fae will let you to just… steal them?” he hisses.

“it’s not _ stealing _, stupid,” changbin retorts. “ot’s not even theirs. it’s just on the borders of their territory,” he reasons. his fingers inch closer to the stem of the queen of the night, as if tempting the two boys to come closer.

“still, the fae are territorial,” seungmin protests, but to no avail. changbin quickly plucks the flower with a sharp snap. seungmin holds a breath, his muscles tense as he scans their surroundings for any signs of angry fae. when nothing happens, he feels himself relax.

“see,” changbin sighs. he pockets the flower in his coat, patting the fabric several times. “safe and sound. now let’s get back to your friend.”

“not so fast, the both of you.” 

the sudden unfamiliar voice causes both of them to turn their heads around. seungmin opens his mouth to scream, but then he realises something with great dread - _ he can’t move. _

“what the-” changbin gapes at his feet, frozen in place on the muddy floors. “-we’re stuck!”

even with panic rising in his chest, the guardian still has the willpower to roll his eyes. “yeah, no shit, sherlock.”

before them, a female figure slinks closer to them. her eyes are an icy blue, seeming to pierce through seungmin’s soul. her wings are transparent, with faint blue lines curling and swirling in unique designs across them. her dress is the usual outfit of the fae, a light blue dress cascading to the ground and swishing at her ankles. she smirks at the both of them. “oh, and what do we have here?” she murmurs.

changbin grits his teeth. “god, not _ you _,” he says scornfully.

the fairy laughs. “oh, changbinnie, it’s lovely to see you again. and,” she dips her head in seungmin’s direction, “a pleasure to meet you, human.”

“it’s seungmin, kim seungmin,” he offers begrudgingly. his eyes still lay on changbin, however, whose face is twisted with a sort of agony unimaginable. he figures the both of them have a kind of history - of what kind, he doesn’t really want to wonder about.

“alright, seungmin,” she smiles. “what were you and your boy toy doing wandering into our lands, hm? and don’t let me even _ start _on the both of you plucking our own flora.”

“but you just did,” seungmin shoots back bluntly. he catches changbin smothering his laughter behind a fit of coughs. 

the fairy, on the other hand, narrows her eyes at the guardian. “what a sly kid you are, human,” she spits. she turns her head to changbin eerily, and crosses her arms across her chest. “it doesn’t take much to figure out why you’re so taken by him, changbinnie.”

“_ taken _?” changbin sputters. he chokes out a laugh. “morgana, i’ve known this kid for less than an hour, and he’s already getting on my nerves,” he objects firmly. seungmin's not too sure whether he should be grateful for that or not.

morgana shrugs. “you’ve been known to fall quite easily, binnie. i wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve already fallen head over heels for this human. besides, he’s kinda cute, don’t you think?” she simpers. seungmin’s blood boils with rage, but his heart still jumps from great fright of being so close to the fairy herself. out of all his run-ins with the fae, this is the closest ever, and, even worse, he’s _ trapped _.

changbin juts his chin out. “that’s out of the topic, morgana. why’re you trapping us?” he sneers.

morgana yawns. “for trespassing? for trampling all over our floors? for _ stealing _ ?”

“see,” seungmin butts in. “i _ told _ you so-”

“-oh, god, _ please _ shut up,” changbin groans. “i can’t deal with the both of you at the same time!”

before them, the fairy watches the scene unfold with a look of amusement. “you two are adorable,” she gushes, but there’s an underlying spite to her words. “however, the two of you are definitely not off of my watch. how about coming inside my dwelling for some tea, dears?”

_ no, no, no. _ this _ cannot _ be happening. the last time he and the others had ‘come inside for tea’, they had to wrangle themselves out of an onslaught of fae attacking them. (seungmin is also beginning to realise the number of times he and his friends have had to face the goddamn fairies, of all forest creatures.) changbin seems to realise this, too, for he begins to struggle from where he’s rooted to the ground. “morgana, no. not now. we’ve got a dire situation to attend to, and-”

“-nuh uh,” morgana interrupts. “my land, my rules.”

“this isn’t your land!” seungmin cries. “the silver forest is home to _ everyone _.”

morgana chuckles. “ah, our young guardian, with your righteous judgement and love for our changbinnie here. how about an offer?”

the sudden change in the flow of the conversation has seungmin puzzled. “_ what _?”

“an offer,” she repeats. “i let the both of you go, and in return, i get the amulet.”

“morgana, _ no _,” changbin cuts in. “the amulet is his, and his only.”

“please, changbin, will you ever shut _ up _,” she grumbles. with a flick of her wrist, changbin’s mouth is sealed shut. seungmin glances over to the apprentice, who’s writhing silently at where he’s planted solid to the forest floor. panic rises higher and higher up his chest at the grim sight of the other struggling to move. 

a sly smirk grows across morgana’s lips as she saunters closer to seungmin. “now, boy, the amulet.”

“it’s not yours to have,” he insists. “the amulet chose _ me _, not you and your stupid fairy kingdom.”

“but it’s _ history _ for fae to guard the forest,” she says. 

“face it,” seungmin bites back. “because guess what? the amulet decided to have a change in history. maybe it was tired of your greed and misery. maybe it wanted someone who’s more worthy, more righteous, better, _ bolder _.”

“history can’t be changed, ‘o wise one,” morgana says with great contempt. “and what good is you and your fleshy lot in protecting us fae? all you’ve done is sneak past our territory, pluck our flowers, annoy us lot. and besides, you’re much too skinny to take care of us. what’s so good about having a human guardian when you can’t even protect yourself?”

from behind morgana, seungmin catches changbin’s eye. his own eyes widen when he sees changbin slipping his wand out from under his coat. rhe apprentice presses a finger to his lips, before his own lips part to mumbling something under his breath. 

rhe fairy keeps talking on, and on, and _ on _ . for the love of god, no wonder the fae don’t mix well with any other creatures. “you humans. imbeciles, you lot. if you’re not tearing and burning down forests, you’re pretending to actually _ care _ about their inhabitants. are you even capable of facing what the _ cavum nigram _ sends out into this wilderness? one day, this forest will burn in the pits of hell, and it’s all because of your fault.”

the corner of seungmin’s lip turns upwards. “no,” he says nonchalantly, “it’ll be _ your _ doing.”

as soon as the words leave his mouth, a shrill shriek pierces through the night that startles even seungmin. his eyes widen as they land on the apprentice. changbin’s eyes are _ glowing _ radiant blue. his mouth runs, uttering words incomprehensible to seungmin. as he speaks, the fairy screams from what seems to be immense pain. 

“god, _ changbin _ ,” morgana howls. “what are you _ doing _?”

for once, her eyes are pleading. tears spring up into her darkening eyes. her body writhes and twists in agony as she screeches blue murder. changbin simply glares down at morgana, his eyes a fiery blue, something absolutely unseen by seungmin before this. his own heart jitters from fear, from feverishness.

“doing what i should’ve done a long time ago,” changbin retorts. with his wand pointed down at morgana’s wings, he shouts something in latin, or roman, or some other language; seungmin’s mind can’t process anything anymore as he can only stare at morgana keeling over onto the ground. her left wing cracks down the side, a shaky line splitting the delicate wing halfway. 

seungmin’s never seen anything like this before. he’s faced angry ogres and animalistic gnomes… but never had he seen a fairy’s wing tearing so sedately, so deliberately. he feels a sharp pang in his heart as he watches morgana’s face contort into one of pure torment. “changbin,” seungmin chokes out. “changbin, _ stop _!”

at his words, changbin lowers his arm. in an instance, the blue in his eyes vanishes, leaving dark orbs gazing straight at the boy. he’s unfrozen from his place now, and he shuffles closer towards where morgana lies in a heap on the forest floors. 

“fuck, changbin,” the fairy hisses. she clutches her broken wing in her hands. tears trail down her cheeks, plopping onto the muddy ground. seungmin watches as her tears cause twinkling marigolds to sprout in the dirt soil. “i’m _ sorry _, alright? i’m sorry.”

“you damn well know sorry doesn’t cut it, morgana,” changbin spits. when he glimpses up at seungmin, he catches how shaken the guardian is. “now let the guardian go.”

willingly, morgana swipes a weak hand across the air. seungmin stumbles out of his frozen position, right into changbin’s arms. he’s not sure what compels him, but he practically leaps out of his hold, as if electrocuted by the apprentice. he parts his lips to say something, anything, but all that comes out is a strangled whine.

changbin presses his lips together into a thin line. “c’mon. let’s head back.” 

the apprentice turns on his heel and trudges off. seungmin blinks once, twice, before heading off behind him. he’s about to leave when morgana grips his ankle desperately, much to the guardian’s surprise. 

“huma- seungmin,” morgana coughs. “be careful of him.”

seungmin looks pointedly at the fairy. “shouldn’t i be careful of you, too?” he asks.

morgana sighs. “i apologise. we fae are protective of our kind, of our forest. i misunderstood your intentions. and i am grateful for you, for i don’t know what would’ve happened to me if not for you stopping him.”

seungmin glances at her wing. “will it… heal?”  
“in a year or so,” she replies with a dry chuckle. “our wings are delicate, and our achilles’ heel; he did a good one on me, your changbin.”

guilt bubbles in seungmin’s gut. he can’t tear his gaze away from the shattered wing, half of it drooping downwards miserably. “is there any way i could help?” he asks.

morgana ponders for a moment. “i doubt your amulet could help, but it’s worth a try.”

seungmin nods. cautiously, he squats down and gently grazes his finger along her wing. morgana seizes up in pain, but seungmin places a hand firmly upon her back. with the touch akin to that of a mother, seungmin slides his finger along the tear of the wing. what he sees leaves him transfixed: the wing is fabric, sewing itself back together. where his fingers trails, her wing mends itself. the fairy squeezes her eyes shut, whimpering quietly from the pain. 

within seconds, her wing is healed, leaving only a faint scar. “sticks and stones,” morgana mutters. she gapes at seungmin in awe. “you’re indeed powerful, seungmin. none of our fae guardians have ever done that before.”

_ powerful _. seungmin mulls over that word. does he really have that much power in his hands? “it’s nothing,” he admits sheepishly. “and i’m sorry for what changbin did to you. that was out of hand. we simply had to reason with you, that is all.”

morgana laughs, and for once her sinister look is exchanged for a brighter, happier smile. “please,” she sighs. she places a delicate hand on seungmin’s shoulder, and presses down. a surge of adrenaline courses through his veins from the contact, like an electric shock that curls his toes. “if you’d known what happened, you would’ve done the same, ‘o little one.”

“seungmin!” changbin’s voice cuts through the air. “where the hell are you?”

morgana nods. “sounds like you’re needed.” she leans close, to peck seungmin’s cheek. when she pulls back, she pats seungmin’s shoulder. “i am at your service, seungmin, and so are the rest of the fae. may you embark on your journey well, and i will forever remember your kindness.”

before the boy can say anything, she dissipates into thin air. seungmin hesitates, and stays where he’s rooted to the spot until changbin calls his name yet again. _ god _ , he thinks, as he runs to catch up to changbin, _ what a crazy night out tonight. _

☽

the entire walk back is awkward silence. the questions are just _ there _, right on the tip of seungmin’s tongue, but he can’t seem to bring himself to ask them. not when he’s still shaken from what changbin had done to her. what could she have possibly done to have hurt changbin so much?

when they arrive back at the cottage, they’re greeted by a scene of jisung popping berries into his mouth, hyunjin gripping a whining felix’s hand and chan applying a cream on felix’s wound.

“oh, you’re back,” chan says cheerily. the warmth of the atmosphere in the sitting room is so contrasting with the scene that had unfolded mere minutes ago. “how was it? had any run-ins with anyone?”

“whatever,” changbin grunts. he retrieves the flower from where it’s tucked into his coat, and carelessly tosses it into the cauldron. “i’m resigning to my room.”

without any argument, changbin shuffles out of the sitting room, closing the door behind him with a slam that shakes the walls. the five of them jump from the sharp sound of it. 

“huh,” chan scratches his hand. he glimpses at seungmin, eyeing him up and down. “i assume it wasn’t a smooth sailing journey?”

“talk about it,” seungmin grumbles, plopping down onto the couch. somehow, healing morgana’s wound had surped so much energy out of him. he feels like a sack of potatoes dumped onto the ground. “we had a run-in with a fairy and…” his voice trails off.

“and what?” jisung asks. “and ew, fairies. did she kill you all?”

“no,” seungmin answers. “but changbin almost did.”

chan’s ears perk up. “changbin?” he furrows his eyebrows, then, the gears click into place in the witch’s mind. “morgana?”

seungmin nods.

“wait, who’s morgana?” hyunjin questions. “is she a fairy?”

seungmin nods again. “chan,” he says. “what happened between her and changbin?”

the witch hesitantly gazes down at the cauldron and its contents. “and why do you ask?” 

“he almost tried to kill her tonight,” he reasons. 

“i thought the forest had some sort of bro code,” jisung comments. “like, you can’t attack each other and stuff.”

chan cards a hand through his hair. seungmin notices how his fingers tremble slightly. “well, yeah. but the forest only acts _ when _ the victim is killed. and knowing changbin, i believe he’d been too impulsive to think of the consequences of it all.”

“chan,” seungmin presses. “what happened?”

he stirs the ladle once around the cauldron, before setting it down with a deep exhale. “well, you could suspect that they were together, i believe, five years ago-”

“-woah,” jisung interrupts. “you can date each other here?-”

“-jisung, for the love of god,_ shut up _,” felix sighs. he turns his attention back to the witch. “and?”

“they broke up last year,” chan continues. “on bad terms, of course. i was out to meet a friend, and morgana paid a visit here. changbin mentioned that she spiked changbin’s drink, and tried to harness his magic. changbin was conscious the whole time, and every time he tells me of the pain, it hurts me to repeat the story. she failed, because i came back early to see changbin screaming his lungs out. it was brutal, their break-up.”

seungmin rubs his arms, prickled with goosebumps. “you can harness magic from a witch?”

“if you hit our weak spot,” chan says, “yeah. it’s possible. every witch has a different weak spot, however, not like the forest critters. for the fae, their wings are their weakness. for gnomes, their hats. for elves, their ears. obvious things. for us, it’s more personal, deeper. somewhere only people close to us will know.”

“and morgana didn’t know it,” seungmin finishes.

chan smiles sadly. “indeed. he didn’t actually kill morgana, right?”

seungmin shakes his head. “no, but… he was close.” he shudders at the memory of those merciless blue eyes. “anyhow. is the remedy ready?”

“almost.” chan stirs the cauldron a while longer, and hums a tune. the four of them gawp at the sight of the violet liquid sloshing around inside the silver pot. felix, clutching his wounded arm, nears the cauldron, just as it bubbles right in his face. he leaps back with a yelp.

the witch’s lips threaten to break into a smile, but he instead focuses on chanting the spell right. he utters a few latin words, and with a blink of an eye, the cauldron grumbles and groans. all four of them gasp aloud as the liquid in the pot evaporates into thin air, into nothing but a small dollop of violet liquid encased in a clear vial, lying at the bottom of the pot.

“wow,” felix breathes. “that’s so cool.” the tips of chan’s ears redden at his words as he passes the tube to felix. “do i just drink it?”

“yup,” chan nods. “just drink up.”

seungmin and the other two wait for felix to uncap the tube, take a whiff of it and then pour it into his mouth. he glugs it down in one shot. he grins as he passes the empty tube back to chan. “it tastes like grapes,” he points out. “so when will the wound heal?”

“overnight. the wound should close up by morning,” chan says. “speaking of overnight, do y’all want to stay the night? it’s probably been an exhausting day out for you lot. and i’ve got a few spare rooms down the hall.”

the offer is tempting, but the realisation that tomorrow’s a school day causes alarm bells to ring in seungmin’s head. “we’d love to, but we should head back before our folks suspect our absence. plus, we need to wake up early tomorrow.”

hyunjin whines. “nooooo, i haven’t studied for my applied math test!”

“you still _ study _?” jisung scoffs. “i’ve been acing all my tests with solid B’s and C’s. who’s got time to sit down and actually crack open their books anymore?”

the witch grins, amused by the boys’ antics. “if that’s the case, my apprentice and i shall meet you once more, perhaps tomorrow. and felix,” he looks pointedly at the boy, who flushes under the attention, “if you’ve got any nasty side effects, just drop by. it’s fine by me. or, uh, whatever.”

felix’s smile mirrors chan’s. “sure. definitely. i’ll- i mean, _ we’ll _ see you tomorrow.”

the four boys exit the cottage, bidding chan good night, before taking the long way back home. hyunjin trips over his staff several times, and felix leans his head against seungmin’s shoulder for the whole walk back. they’re exhausted, sleep-deprived college kids with a forest to protect and creatures to battle. seungmin wonders if he could ever put that under his resume.

still, even as he slides under the covers that night, his mind still races back to the very moment, frozen in place as changbin was _this_ close to killing his ex. he falls asleep to the thoughts of a pair of fiery blue eyes and a woman’s cries piercing through the night.


	2. while we're lost, waiting to be found

seungmin used to find it hilarious, how after a long night of warding off evil forces from a forest, he still winds up in a barren classroom, notebook on desk, pen in hand. now, he’s simply too dead tired. his only goal in his teenage life is to keep his grades up and somehow not end up homeless.

“and that’s all for class today,” professor kim announces. “please read up on the role and jurisdiction of magistrates and crown courts this weekend; we’ll have the test at 1300 hours sharp on monday.” as soon as he leaves the lecture hall, seungmin practically falls face-first against the desk, eyelids heavier than bricks.

he’d only managed to squeeze in an hour of sleep before his alarm blared loudly for him to stay up and study for his econs test this morning. he’d stuffed some leftover bread and chased after the communal bus to end up here. he’s not sure whether he managed to pass, but he can only cross his fingers and hope for the best now. 

at the entrance, felix pops his head in with a grin. “hey, seungminnie. let’s go for lunch.”

seungmin groans as he lifts his head up. “tired,” he mumbles.

he’s not all that surprised to see felix bounding up to him, humming a merry tune. “c’mon, i saw mac ‘n cheese when i passed by the cafeteria today,” he insists. his hand reaches for seungmin’s sleeve to tug on it, and that’s when the memories of yesterday night rush to his head. daintily, seungmin catches felix’s wrist and turns his arm around. he’s stunned to see the wound closed, leaving only a mere scab along his skin.

“woah,” seungmin breathes. so he  _ wasn’t _ hallucinating; they definitely met the witches yesterday. “that’s so cool.”

“i know, right?” felix gushes. “he’s so cool.”

as seungmin packs his things into his backpack, he rolls his eyes. “so. chan, huh?”

“what about him?” felix does attempt to smother his enthusiasm, but his cheeks are flushed pink. his freckles stand out even more prominently with the warm colour tainting his skin. 

“you seem very taken by him,” seungmin observes. “and he seems very taken by you.”

felix giggles. it’s times like these that seungmin forgets he’s younger than the other by a couple of days, and yet felix still reminds him of a young, innocent schoolboy with dusty pale pink hair and mismatched socks. “you think so?” he smiles.

“definitely,” seungmin confirms, slinging the bag over his shoulder and shuffling out of his seat. “i almost puked at the sight of the both of you.”

“i mean,” felix laughs, “i know i just met him but he’s so… cool. and friendly. and really helpful. and good-looking, too. and-” he gasps, then turns to seungmin with wide eyes. “he said he’s twenty-one, right? what if he’s actually a hundred years ago? like a vampire?”

“i’m pretty sure that only applies to vampires, dude,” seungmin chuckles, looping an arm around his friend’s shoulder. he steers felix in the direction of the cafeteria, past the sea of people in the hallways. as they slowly near the cafeteria, the aroma of food lingers in the air, and the two boys inhale deeply to drink in the culinary smells.

they eventually find hyunjin and jisung at their usual spot next to the windows, overlooking the campus lake. naturally, the two boys are bickering over something trivial once again. “look,” jisung scoffs. “just because you  _ think _ that, doesn’t  _ actually _ mean that dowoon is the best drummer out there.”

hyunjin gasps overdramatically and clutches his chest. “you don’t mean that, do you? how could you say that? youngk would be  _ devastated _ in you.”

“why in the world am i still friends with the both of you?” seungmin sighs, breaking up the argument between the two boys. felix snorts, and almost chokes on the grape juice he’d just swallowed.

“because you love us,” hyunjin answers.   
“and because we’re going to get you a date for the annual gala,” jisung adds cheerily.

of all things to worry about,  _ the gala. _ seungmin practically forgot that even existed. the annual gala, set up by the fraternity club of their college, takes place in about two months from now, right after their major exams and before summer hits the road. with his two friends paired off and felix catching up to them, seungmin realises he’s lagging behind in the romance department. and why wouldn’t he, when he has to juggle such a monumental double life? “i don’t think that’s possible, sungie,” seungmin brushes it off.

“really,” hyunjin drawls. “it would be possible, if you could  _ stop _ turning down every other person who’s confessed to you.”

jisung slaps his knee as he laughs, as if he just heard the funniest joke in the world. “remember that time he turned down tzuyu during that pool party at my place-”

“-no, please do  _ not _ go there-”

“-he panicked so hard, he pushed her into the pool. while she was still fully clothed. holding that martina.” that sends the three of them into a fit of giggles. only seungmin sits there, arms folded across his chest with a sour look on his face. he doesn’t even crack a smile when felix thumps him on the back to comfort him.

seungmin takes an angry bite out of his sandwich. “well, i clearly wasn’t expecting that! i just helped her out with studying for  _ one _ test on law reform. how was i supposed to know she’d like me for being a nerd?”

“you say it like it’s a bad thing,” jisung huffs. he pops a cashew nut into his mouth and crunches loudly, his cheeks puffing out akin to a squirrel’s. “you’re good-looking, smart, great at singing and you’re on the basketball team. obviously people go gaga over those things.”

seungmin mulls over jisung’s words and licks his chapped lips. “anyways,” he says, with a shake of his head, “that doesn’t matter. i’m far too busy to bother with dates and the gala. i don’t think i’d be able to commit to a relationship when i’m busy twenty-five-eight.”

there’s a glint of mischief in jisung’s eyes. “or,” he begins with a smirk, “you could always bamboozle yourself a forest creatu-”

“-jisung,” seungmin cuts him off sharply. “i am  _ not _ going to go out with an elf. or a fairy. what if my parents want to meet them? how am i supposed to explain to them why my potential lover has pointy ears or glittery hands?-”

“-you’re forgetting someone,” jisung grins. “someone we didn’t realise existed in the forest until just yesterday, someone who looks exactly like a human, with very human features, and very human feelings.”

it doesn’t take very long for the other to deduce what his friend is trying to imply. “not the  _ apprentice _ ,” seungmin groans. “he’s annoying, rude, and has a sweet tooth for revenge, and you expect me to fall for him?” he scoffs. “anyone  _ but _ him.”

he stabs his fork into his mac ‘n cheese, and continues to eat in silence. it’s a signal for the end of their conversation. the laughter dissolves into an awkward tension as the other three recall seungmin’s journey yesterday with changbin. they don’t pry into it, and seungmin’s more than grateful for that.

☽

on his way back home, seungmin feels a strong craving for coffee. not that he doesn’t chug down at least two cups a night to stay awake, of course. he relishes in the bitterness of the drink, something his other friends heavily dislike. (he remembers their orders like the back of his hand: felix almost always goes for a cappuccino with extra milk; hyunjin is adamant about his caramel hazelnut and jisung with his elaborate drink with extra milk, extra sugar, extra whipped cream. he wonders why jisung hasn’t exploded yet.)

without much thought, he steps into the coffeeshop a few blocks from the campus. the bells overhead tinkle to signal his arrival, causing the cashier to jerk his head up. he has dusty light brown hair and a merry smile adorning his lips as seungmin walks up to the counter. upon closer inspection, he has on braces, the pink of the brackets shimmering under the lights. 

“hi! Welcome to caffeine break. i’m jeongin, and how can i help you today?” 

seungmin doesn’t usually go to coffee places. he just stocks his fridge with coffee cans from the downtown grocery store, so he’s not entirely sure what’s compelled him to stroll inside this particular place on this particular day. still, he flashes jeongin a smile. “double-shot latte, hold the sugar, thanks.”

jeongin punches in his order, tick tack tick, and then peers up. “that’ll be 2000 won,” he chirps.  _ where is this guy getting his enthusiasm from? _ seungmin wonders. he doesn’t look much older than seungmin, and coffee certainly does  _ not _ make any sleepy college kid as happy as this guy. 

he hands over the money, which jeongin punches into the cashier. the machine whirs to life as it spits out seungmin’s receipt. with an even wider smile, jeongin hands the receipt to seungmin. “right away…” his voice trails off, and his cheeks take on a pink blush upon realising that he hadn’t asked for the boy’s name.

“seungmin,” he finishes with a genuine grin. jeongin nods eagerly before turning around to settle seungmin’s order. and now, seungmin doesn’t believe in love at first sight; it’s stupid and short-lasting and blinded by lust, but he has to admit that this boy is an entire cutie. from his little gestures to his cheery tone, seungmin can’t help but feel his heart leap at how adorable the boy is.

he barely realises that jeongin’s calling his name until the poor cashier has rung the bell twice. “order up!” he calls. sheepishly, seungmin shuffles over to retrieve his drink from the smiling worker. “are you daydreaming, seungmin ah?”   
seungmin snorts. “i’m pretty sure i’m older than you, kid,” he replies.

“does being eighteen qualify me as a kid?” jeongin answers back. he leans against the scrubbed counter, and cocks his head sideways in a way that has his hair falling past his eyes. he’s undeniably pretty, and so amiable, too. he feels his face flush hot from how jeongin’s still gazing at seungmin like  _ that _ . 

“you look like you’re an eight-year-old,” seungmin counters with a flourish, and chuckles when the cashier  _ whines _ at him. “and act like one, too.”

“dang it,” jeongin laughs. “i was hoping i’d qualify as someone old enough to ask for your number.”

the words are strung together smoothly in a current, and it takes a moment or two for seungmin to properly process what the worker just said. when the gears lock in place, seungmin’s eyes widen. warmth rushes to his cheeks a little more. “i-i…” he blinks dumbly. “yeah, sure. totally, actually.”

jeongin giggles. “technically, i’m not supposed to do this at work, but i’ll risk my arse for you,” he says cheesily as he hands over his cell phone. still a little starstruck, seungmin types in his number and saves his contact as  _ kim seungmin ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ _

“that’s nice of you,” seungmin mumbles back. “i’ll see you around, i guess?”

the cashier nods his head enthusiastically. “i’ll see you around!” he waves goodbye at seungmin as the boy shuffles out of the coffee shop, head still turned jeongin’s way. and if anyone notices him slamming head-first against the doorframe, it’s a secret only between an embarrassed seungmin and a laughing jeongin.

☽

by the time seungmin arrives home, he’s already received a message from an eager jeongin. he grins at his lock screen notification, but doesn’t respond to it just yet. he places the phone face-down and decides to take a shower first instead.

the second he emerges from the bathroom with his towel around his waist, though, he’s immediately bombarded by his yapping dog, bounding at his feet and lunging for seungmin’s ankles. seungmin clicks his tongue at the yorkshire terrier. “pirrie, i haven’t even put my underwear on!” he groans in exasperation. pirrie simply ignores his words and continues to lick at his heels. 

with much difficulty, seungmin manages to slip on his clothes, an old grey tee teemed with basketball shorts. he finally plonks pirrie down on his beanbag, knowing the dog will stop writhing around on the plush cushion. “now, don’t disturb me, okay? i’ve only got a few hours to squeeze in some studying before i need to fight off monsters,” he admonishes pirrie, waggling a finger at him. 

pirrie whimpers, his eyes wide and pleading. seungmin rolls his eyes, knowing all too well that his dog has far too much control over his emotions. he caves in and cards his fingers along pirrie’s fur. the dog barks happily in return. “i’m beat from yesterday night, pirrie, you know that? so will you be a good boy and sit here silently without disturbing me?”

pirrie’s cheery bark is resignation enough. seungmin sighs, detaching himself from the dog as if it were so painful to remove himself three feet away from his dog. he’s grown attached to him ever since he found pirrie wandering around the pathway leading to silver forest, a stray with an injured paw and eyes so teary that seungmin would’ve been heartless to leave the dog all alone. 

satisfied, seungmin digs around in his backpack for his assignment paper due on monday. just as he retrieves a pen from the pencil holder on his desk, his phone buzzes to life on the table. he jerks from the sudden noise, before grumbling under his breath and checking the name lit on screen. in an instance, irritation is replaced with an impending sort of dread when he realises it’s felix calling him. felix rarely phones his friends. and the last time that he  _ did _ phone seungmin, he’d locked himself out of the house when his parents were away for two weeks. in short, felix only ever calls him in emergencies.

hesitantly, seungmin swipes across the screen and presses the speaker button. “hey, felix? what’s up?” he asks. he tries to keep his voice as nonchalant as possible, keyword certainly being  _ tries _ .

there’s a crackling of feed from the other end before he hears his friend’s lower register reverberate throughout his bedroom. “seungmin,” felix says. “you need to come.  _ now _ .”

☽

“well,” seungmin breathes. “pixies be damned.”

“doesn’t seem legit to me,” jisung sniffs. “we’ve never stumbled upon such a… huge footprint before.” 

“is that even a foot?” hyunjin counters.

“i have a bad feeling about it, that’s what,” felix says, his shoulders tense as he crouches down to slide a finger along the soil. the boys are encircling what seems to look like a gargantuan footprint at least twice jisung’s height… yet, it doesn’t look quite a footprint. the ends of its feet are long, razor sharp claws curling inwards, with only four toes. there’s another similar footprint a little way off from this one, and the boys can only fathom how large this creature really is from the space between its feet.

seungmin shudders. “how did y’all find this?” he asks.

hyunjin pokes felix’s rib, coaxing a yowl out of the latter. “our lixie here wanted to go meet his cutie boyfriend-”

“-he’s  _ not _ my boyfriend; we’ve only met for one day, jinnie-”

“-boyfriend-to-be,” hyunjin corrects himself, “but was wayyy too shy to go there himself, so naturally we tagged along, knowing that you wouldn’t want to see the apprentice’s face.” which is, of course, true, but seungmin  _ would _ have liked to see the priceless look on felix’s face when he met chan again. “on the way there, we took our usual shortcut, and we were about to reach the cottage when we stumbled upon  _ this _ .”

at ‘this’, he gestures towards the deep imprint of the foot (slash paw slash claw) practically engraved in the ground. the print seems fresh, new, and that’s what has seungmin’s blood running cold. his mind flickers through the spell book stashed away in his bookshelf back at home, searching for the same image of this very footprint. it’s just somewhere in his distant memories…

felix scrambles to his feet and dusts his hands off on the denim of his jeans. his bow is slung lopsided on his back, and slides a little down his arm before he hastily pushes it back up on his shoulder with a trembling hand. remember what chan said? about how the  _ cavum nigram  _ has been sending out greater beings for the past few weeks? what if, this time, it’s a creature we’ve never even  _ heard _ of before?” he asks. his brow twitches madly.

even the unfazed jisung seems shaken. “we really aren’t fit for this guarding life, huh?” he chuckles dryly. “we run into ogres. we run into poisonous goblins. and now we’ve got this thing that looks like a fucking  _ dragon’s _ foot in our very wake!”

and then the gears jerk. click into place with a resounding  _ snap _ . “it’s a dragon,” seungmin confirms. he runs a finger along the edge of the claw imprints, his eyes drinking the sight in. “it’s  _ definitely _ a dragon; i saw it before in the spell book. its claws. long and sharp, like knives.”

the other three stand in a frozen stance, too stunned to say anything more. hyunjin is the first to react, and he spins the staff in his hand as he turns seungmin’s words over and over, like a dice in his head. “it’s plausible, but are you sure dragons even exist out here? and why would they be mentioned in a spell book of all things?”

“plus,” jisung adds, “why would its footprint appear under the goddamn daylight? every creature knows not to show themselves when the sun’s still high in the sky.”

the words dance around in seungmin’s head, refusing to link together into sentences coherent enough for him to comprehend. the letters, the images… they’re a fuzzy, distorted collection of memories that seungmin can’t seem to place a finger upon. instead, he squints his eyes at deep etches of the claws sunk into the ground. “if the  _ cavum nigram _ really is acting up, i think it’d want to invade any time of the day, wouldn’t it?” he says inquisitively. 

just as his fingers trace along the end of the dragon’s longest claw, he feels something akin to a bullet shot straight at his heart. he gasps, shocked from the sudden impact. before seungmin can process what’s happening, he’s keeling backwards and landing with a loud thump on his back. around him, his other three friends scream at his sudden fall and crowd around him. seungmin struggles to get back up, struggles to extend an arm to grab onto felix’s outstretched hand, but his vision is gradually turning white, and the voices ringing in his ears are getting harder and harder to distinguish… 

his eyes widen into saucers, and everything, absolutely  _ everything _ turns white. flashes of colours whip across his vision: red, gold, green. the sound of rustling leaves. a deafening roar. a scream, a flicker of a pixie darting behind a tree. and then the flames. whipping, licking at his feet with a sting. god, the sting. everywhere is fire, fire,  _ fire- _

and seungmin sees white again.

“seungmin. seungmin!” the guardian jerks awake, and his vision clears up from the white clouding his eyes. instead, he faces three concerned faces, their eyes hard with anxiety, their mouths agape, jaws slack. “seungmin, you alright? you just fell to the ground and passed out for, like. a solid minute.”

“a… minute?” seungmin blinks. the bursts of colours and scenes felt like a mere second or two. baffled, seungmin sits up to try and brush his finger along the same claw again, but hyunjin beats him to it. the latter shoves seungmin’s shoulder back harshly, and shakes his head furiously. 

“no way are you touching that thing again,” he breathes. “i don’t know  _ what _ just happened, but it definitely has something to do with that footprint.”

“i saw things when i touched it,” seungmin protests. “i saw colours. trees. a pixie. and fire everywhere.” he gulps, swallows his nerves before continuing, “hyunjin, do you know what this means-”

“-seungmin,” felix whispers, voice shaky with apprehension. “your  _ amulet _ .”

at first, the guardian is even more puzzled than ever before. yet, his eyes cast downwards to glance at the metal ring pinned to his shirt, and sure enough, its usual faint blue glow is now an angry red flaring up brighter, and brighter, and brighter with every passing second. 

instead of its constant glow, the amulet pulsates deeply. the crimson red of his amulet glows fiercer with each pulse. 

“what the  _ fuck _ ,” seungmin breathes, “is going on with this shit.”

hyunjin tightens his grip on the other’s shoulder. he sports an uneasy look in his eyes, the corners of his lips turning downwards. “seungmin.” he glimpses at the others, before allowing his gaze to fall back upon seungmin. “what exactly did you see? what were the flames? the trees? the pixie?”

“i don’t know,” seungmin shakes his head. “i don’t know, i don’t  _ know _ .”

the words are a repetitive mantra in his head.  _ idon’tknowidon’tknowidon’tknow _ . he clutches his head, places a palm to his forehead as it pounds to the rhythm of the pulsating amulet. overhead, the rolling dark clouds envelope the vicinity and the boys included. thunder rumbles in the distance, hinting at an oncoming storm. all four of them tilt their heads up to the sky, confused as ever as a bolt of lightning flashes across the expanse of the clouds above them.

a wind whips through the forest, and the leaves in the trees swish and whoosh to their rhythm. “what the hell is happening?” felix screeches, cowering under seungmin’s body. hyunjin and jisung huddle up close, too, their bodies quivering with trepidation.

the amulet rattles wildly, a hummingbird flapping its wings miles a second as it radiates red. seungmin clutches the amulet tight in his grip until his knuckles whiten. he pales as he glances down, to see the arrows engraved on the silver begin to spin around and around and around-   
“what are you  _ doing _ ,” seungmin whispers at the metal. the carvings on the metal shift and spin with a mechanical whirl. all the while, the wind grows into a gale, practically sweeping the four of them off of their feet. yet, seungmin fixates his gaze on the glowing amulet. the warmth emanating from it seeps deep into seungmin’s bones and settles there, until the amulet abruptly stops. completely.

the red light vanishes in a blink of an eye, replaced by its usual dull blue. the arrows etched on the surface come to a halt on the face of the amulet. but this time, they point to his far left. slowly, his eyes follow their direction. he peers up, only to see the same thicket of trees swaying in the strong wind.

“huh,” jisung scratches his head. “maybe it went faulty-”

his voice is immediately cut off by a deafening roar piercing through the forest -  _ the same roar in seungmin’s visions _ . his blood freezes, as does the rest of his body as his eyes come to rest at a tree bursting into flames before their very eyes. the crackling of fire crescendos into an explosion of sparks, and seungmin instinctively lifts his arm to shield the four of them from the shower of ashes and burning leaves.

seungmin’s breath hitches in his throat as another tree goes off as well, up into flames. hues of red, gold and orange fly off into the skies overhead from the sudden impact. another tree, and another, and  _ another _ .

“seriously, what the hell is going on?!” jisung wails, whipping his head from side to side. all the trees encircling them burst into flames, one by one, candles surging into blazing wildfires. ashes streak across the air, blackened branches tumble to the floor, whole tree trunks crumble and disintegrate into nothing. they’re trapped in the pit of fiery trees, stuck with their backs facing each other as they take cautious steps away from the trees.

another roar shakes the ground mightily. seungmin peers up to catch a whip of green and gold - the same one in his visions. “the  _ dragon _ ,” he blurts. “it’s the dragon. it appeared in my visions. the dragon’s burning everything up!”

“how are we supposed to face up against a dragon when he can do  _ that _ ?” hyunjin waves wildly at the unsettling scene before them. “spear a sword through his heart?”

“worth a try,” seungmin shouts back. his eyes search desperately for the dragon to appear again. “come on, come on, come on. show yourself!” he commands.   
“any spells to spell this creature away?” felix suggests, his arm poised over his arrows warily.

“can’t think of ‘em,” seungmin answers. sweat pours from his scalp and trickles down the sides of his face. he wipes his brow, eyes peeled wide open for the sight of the dragon. just as he turns his head to the left, he opens his mouth to scream

but no sound comes out. instead, he gapes at the pair of golden eyes hidden perfectly behind the smoke and ashes clouding the atmosphere. the eyes glint in the dark, paired with glistening sharp teeth that seem to wink at the four of them. smoke bellows from its nostrils as the dragon crouches down low and slinks closer to them.

“holy shit,” jisung curses, “holy shit, holy shit-”

“-stay calm!” seungmin orders. he protectively shields his three friends from the dragon with his arms. the heat is cranked up from how hot the dragon’s breath is, and sweat pours in torrents down his cheeks now. yet, seungmin’s focus is on the dragon, and the dragon only.

slowly, bit by bit, the dragon’s magnificent scaly body shines under the dim light left peeking through the dark clouds overhead. its folded wings twitch by its sides, its footsteps heavy, its claws curled surreptitiously and digging deep into the soil. it sighs, and a cloud of thick smoke swirls in the air from its mouth of daggers. the smoke clouds seungmin’s vision momentarily, and when it finally clears up, the dragon is closer to them than ever before.

the four of them back up maddeningly slowly, wary of every step that the dragon takes. seungmin swallows hard. his nerves are twisted into a tight knot in the depths of his gut. “easy, boy,” he murmurs, voice shaky. “ _ easy _ .”

for a moment, the dragon stops all movement. it halts, and cocks its head sideways slowly. much to their shock, the dragon opens its mouth to speak. “aren’t you lot so sly?” the dragon purrs, and horror of all horrors, seungmin instantly realises his gravest mistake. “don’t you call a lady like me a  _ boy _ .”

a gust of wind throws them backwards. with a cry, seungmin shields all of them from the fiery breath of the creature. his heart leaps to his throat at the sight of the flames spurting from her mouth. the flames lick at their ankles, pouncing to scald their skin. the dragon shakes her wings, before flapping them down, hard. within seconds, she swoops up into the air.

“distract her. i’ll figure out a way to get to her,” seungmin instructs. jisung and felix nod in unison and take off; felix aims at the dragon with his endless arrows, whilst jisung tries to sling webs across the expanse of the dragon’s underside.

seungmin turns to see hyunjin staring down at his staff. “hyunjin?” he asks tentatively.

hyunjin’s head snaps up. His eyes are dark with an emotion unidentifiable. “seungmin,” he says slowly. “i’ve got an idea, but it’s kinda risky.”

“what idea?” seungmin asks, stepping closer.

“while you were out with changbin yesterday, chan was talking to me about my staff. handed down, generation after generation. it doesn’t just send the creatures back to the cavum nigram.” he pauses dramatically, before adding, “i can send people places, too.”

stunned, seungmin’s jaw slackens as he processes the other’s words. “so you’re saying-”

“-that i can try and get you to land on the dragon’s back,” hyunjin finishes. “but it’s risky, because i’ve never tried it before. it’s possible, but you might end up stuck in the  _ cavum nigram _ with… with everything else.” hyunjin’s entire body is shivering from the sheer thought of losing seungmin to the evil creatures trapped in the underworld. “i don’t know if i should do it.”

as he speaks, felix shouts for them to duck. the both of them bend down, just as the dragon carenes dangerously close to the ground with a flourish and a gust of wind. overhead, raindrops have begun pelting down heavily, turning the forest floors into a muddy warzone path. 

through the sheets of rain pouring down, seungmin can make out the glint of worry passing through his friend’s irises. “do it,” seungmin says. he keeps his composure steady and sure, despite how every fibre inside his body feels like ripping apart into unmendable tatters. “it’s the only way we can get close to her.”

the hand gripping his staff shakes so much hyunjin almost drops it. “are you sure?” hyunjin murmurs. “it’s the biggest risk we’ve taken.”

“and it’s a risk i’m willing to take,” seungmin replies. he places a reassuring palm on hyunjin’s shoulder and nods. “don’t worry about me. worry about the dragon burning the rest of the forest alive.”

hesitantly, hyunjin nods in return. his eyelashes, curtained by the raindrops, flutter shut. he stretches his arm out taut and points the diamond tip at seungmin. seconds tick by with nothing happening, and seungmin’s about to give up when he feels his body tip backward. his mouth opens into a silent scream as he’s sucked straight into the hole - and falls right through.

in an instance, the light before his eyes disappears, replaced instead by darkness. the crackling of fire and his friends’ screams and the pounding of the storm and the roars of the dragon cease to exist in this empty silence. seungmin floats in midair, unsure of where to go, unsure of where he is, unsure of where the exit is.

an echo of a deep voice resonates from somewhere far off. his heart races, pounding against the cage of his chest. he squints his eyes and directs his gaze everywhere to find light again, but to no avail. panic rises in his chest and blossoms in full bloom up his throat.

“hellooooo.” seungmin swivels around sharply, his eyes darting from side to side. a sinister giggle echoes throughout the entire space of… well, wherever he is. “who’s heeeereeeee?”   
seungmin keeps his mouth shut and sealed, though his tongue prods against his taped lips to scream out loud. he waves his arms about, swimming through the space to go elsewhere. the voice seems to have stopped, and he sighs inwardly in relief.

somewhere in the distance, a ray of light splits apart the black void. hope surges through his veins as the sound of a distant storm reaches his ears. hurriedly, seungmin runs. he runs in the space, sprinting straight for the crack in the darkness. he’s getting nearer, and nearer, and nearer-

he can’t help but screech when a hand suddenly grabs ahold of his left ankle. he squeezes his eyes shut, not daring to see whatever evil creature has caught him just mere steps away from the crack of light.

a body presses up against seungmin’s back. the hand slides up his side, before resting on his shoulder. he feels hair tickling the nape of his neck as a head tilts close and presses against his cheek. a pair of lips graze his left ear, breaths slow and stately. seungmin can feel the smirk grow on the creature’s lips before they form words in a voice so familiar yet so eerie.  _ “welcome home, seungmin.” _

seungmin yells, tearing himself away from the creature. his blood runs hotter than it ever has, his legs burn harder than they ever have as he swings himself straight through the light in the darkness. he cries out loud as he emerges from the dark void and lands with an unceremonious thump on bumpy ground.

sounds burst through his head: the sound of the rain, the deafening roars, the screams and the trees toppling to the ground. he realises exactly where he’d landed on - right on the dragon’s back. 

“hey! intruder!” the dragon sneers. she swings her head back to glare right at the guardian. “get off of my back!”

“not on my watch,” seungmin retorts. he presses both palms down onto the scaly moss green skin of the dragon’s back, and  _ feels _ the warmth flow right out of the tips of his fingers and diffusing right into the dragon. she roars mightily, flames bellowing from her mouth and nostrils as she writhes in pain mid-flight. seungmin keeps one hand flat against her back, the other gripping on tight to one of her scales. 

an arrow whizzes through the air and narrowly misses a shrieking seungmin. from down below, he hears a loud “sorry!” through the thunder and lightning. within seconds, another arrow flies swiftly before burying itself deep into the dragon’s chest.

“no!” she roars. her wings flap slower, and slower, and agonisingly slower as the last of her energy gives way. seungmin holds onto her for dear life as the dragon begins to descend from several hundred metres up in the air. he shuts his eyes close and presses his entire body against the dragon’s scaly back as the wind whooshes through his clothes, his hair.

he expects himself to land with a sharp thud, so he’s pleasantly surprised to feel the dragon suddenly begin to fall sedately, leisurely, down before the dragon touches the ground. to his even bigger surprise, the first thing - or, well, people - he sees are none other than chan and changbin themselves, their wands in their hands. 

despite the state they’re all in, chan breathes a sigh of relief, laughs, and ruffles seungmin’s hair. “welcome home, seungmin; have you had a good flight on the dragon express?” he says cheekily.

_ welcome home, seungmin _ . the words mould and tear apart and form together again in his mind as he clambers off the dragon shakily. even as his friends hug him tight in his arms, the words and the familiar voice are all that seungmin can think about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for waiting so patiently for this chapter! this one's considerably shorter with a lot of tension and action, but the next one's gon be kinda long /braces myself for the long write/


	3. maybe we need something different now

both of seungmin’s hands are scalded from the intensity of his power against the dragon’s back. despite his protests, the witch and his apprentice loop their arms around seungmin’s shoulders, which is just as well, seeing as how wobbly his legs are from the earlier encounter with the forlorn creature. he feels his body shake from the cold of the rain earlier, now overtaken by sunshine as soon as the dragon had been slain.

his three friends trail quietly in front of them. they’re all exhausted from the sudden battle against the dragon. hyunjin is probably the most drained out of them all, though; he clings onto jisung tightly as he staggers down the cobble path leading to the coven. 

felix casts the two witches a glance. “how did y’all-”

“-know you guys were here?” chan finishes for him. felix nods. “the storm came so suddenly, with no warning whatsoever. we already had our suspicions, given your encounter with the greater goblins yesterday. and when we saw fire from a distance away, we knew something was wrong.”

from beside him, changbin’s voice rumbles deep and low. “if ogres were a myth, dragons were thought to be impossible,” he says. “and this one… she was so powerful. she controlled the weather _ and _ the forces.”

a million questions in seungmin’s mind yearn to be answered._ what happened to my amulet? what did i see in those visions? how does the creature in the dark know my name? _seungmin swallows them down as they all trudge towards the little cottage in the distance, its presence homely and comforting after a long fight.

the sun is just beginning to set beyond the horizon. inky colours of gold and yellow slink along the forest floors, blurring with the shadows of the trees overhead. the clouds spotted across the sky flow along in the quiet breeze, so contrasting with the powerful winds and thundering rain earlier. as they near the porch, seungmin’s breath is caught in his throat.

“pirrie! what are you doing out here?” seungmin gasps. he wrangles himself out of either boys’ arms and rushes forward. despite his muscles aching and his hands still stinging from the burn, seungmin crouches down to pick up his dog in his arms. pirrie yaps happily at him, before licking a stripe up his cheek. “how in the world did you end up here?”

the rest of them watch the scene on with much confusion. “is that a baby wolf?” changbin asks warily.

“do y’all not have dogs out here or something?” jisung counters. with hyunjin on his arm, jisung shuffles closer to the guardian and his dog in his arms. he lifts his free hand to stroke the dog’s ears. “hey, pirrie.”

felix practically leaps for joy and almost bowls over seungmin with his arms outstretched. “pirrie!” he yelps, pouncing onto seungmin and scooping pirrie up. he lifts pirrie up in the air with a pout on his lips. “i haven’t seen you in forever!”

“that’s because you haven’t been to my house in forever, dumbass,” seungmin deadpans, trying to ignore the pool of dread beginning to fill in the depths of his gut. he swallows again, his eyes on the yorkshire terrier yapping away happily. something doesn’t seem to add up, and he’s not sure what it is.

“how’d your dog end up so far into the forest?” chan questions. still, his eyes seem to be lured towards the dog… or, moreso, the boy holding the dog. “did he happen to follow behind you on the way here?”

“maybe,” seungmin replies quietly. “but even if he did, i would’ve seen him when we fought the dragon.”

changbin groans as he unlocks the door. “whatever. just don’t let the mutt leave muddy trails all over our house,” he grunts. he swings the door open and ushers for the rest of them to enter, strictly placing the dog in seungmin’s arms and nowhere else. seungmin doesn’t resist the urge to roll his eyes at the apprentice’s back. 

there’s still a thick tension between the both of them, despite the twenty-four hour gap since they’d last met. it doesn’t help that seungmin’s got a billion questions to ask, and he only has either chan or this damned apprentice to rely on for answers. 

chan hums. “how about we all spell you dry, get the pot going, clean your dog a little, and then we all chat about what just happened?” he suggests lightly. all four of the guardians nod. seungmin’s grateful that at least chan isn’t some spiteful witch with something up his ass all the time (unlike _ someone _) and actually calms everyone down, even after what had just occurred. within seconds, chan has spelled all their clothes dry with towels draped over their bodies, and conjured a bubble bath for pirrie in the far corner of the sitting room. changbin heads to the kitchen to put the kettle to boil, while muttering something under his breath that sounds a lot like “damn mutts.”

sighing deeply, seungmin nestles himself between an exhausted hyunjin and an excited felix, who’s moved the bathtub closer to the couch and has begun scrubbing the dog with a merry hum. jisung stands behind the couch, rubbing deep circles into hyunjin’s back, massaging the kinks out of his tired muscles.

seungmin raises a fist at hyunjin, who bumps it with his own. “you did good, dude,” seungmin offers. hyunjin doesn’t say anything back, but he gives a sluggish grin. his eyelashes flutter shut, and his head tilts back before being lulled into sleep. behind him, his boyfriend smiles and leans forward to press a soft kiss against the other’s cheek, and at any other time, seungmin would be disgusted. now, he feels happy, and sure, knowing all his friends are safe and sound under this very roof.

when changbin emerges from the kitchen with teacups, a teapot and a plate of cookies on a silver platter, he clicks his tongue at the sight of pirrie splashing bubbles onto the carpeted floor. “please, for the love of fae, spell the bath away.”

chan laughs, but does as asked. he helps distribute the teacups to everyone, and sets an extra aside for a sleeping hyunjin. changbin glimpses at hyunjin, who’s still gripping his staff even in his sleep. “someone looks burned out.”

“cut it, dude,” seungmin sneers. “he used up all his energy just now to save the goddamned forest from going up in flames. the least you could do is shut up.”

“okay, _ god _,” changbin holds his hands up in surrender. “don’t need to get all defensive.”

chan raises an eyebrow. “i presume you didn’t suddenly acquire the ability to fly to get onto that dragon’s back, did you?” he asks, before taking a sip of his hot tea.

seungmin shakes his head. “it was Hyunjin’s doing. you told him he could open up portals for other people, to teleport them. we didn’t have much choice, so he tried it out on me.”

changbin chokes on his tea.

chan’s eyes widen. “oh, wow. and it worked.”

the guardian nods stiffly. “it was all… dark. and stuff.”

“any creatures?”

the question throws seungmin off. he’s suddenly unsure whether to mention the creature so similar to a human pressed against his back. he hesitantly shakes his head.

“c’mon, dude,” chan sighs. he pours some more tea for himself before peering up to meet seungmin’s gaze. his brown eyes are a liquid pool, glinting with an unreadable emotion. “you’re a pretty bad liar.”

felix and jisung turn to seungmin, their lips parted in shock. seungmin falters for a moment, before gulping down the rest of the tea. he places the teacup down onto the coffee table with a loud _ chink _ . “something came up behind me just as i wanted to get out of the dark. it grabbed my ankle, then it just… pressed up against me. and whispered something into my ear. he said…” his hands twitch furiously at the memory of it, and he presses his palms against his jeans. “he was welcoming me home. and he knew my name, too, which is so _ absurd _.”

all of them exchange confused glances. even pirrie seems to comprehend the atmosphere of the moment, and he cowers under the coffee table, eyes wide and drinking them all in. jisung clears his throat before pouncing on him with questions. “so that… thing knows your name? what did it look like? was it a goblin? ogre? troll?”

“it felt like… a human,” he whispers. “and its voice was so familiar, but i can’t pinpoint why exactly.”

jisung places a dramatic hand to his forehead and leans back onto his couch. “i need more tea. and cookies.” he dangles an arm out in the air, and chan simply places a chocolate chip one into his open palm. “thanks, dude.”

“also,” felix adds, “what about the amulet? and the visions?”

seungmin earns a deathly glare from changbin, who’s seated opposite the five of them in an armchair. “what happened to the amulet? did the dragon get ahold of it?” he asks lowly.

“it’s still on my shirt, dumbass,” seungmin points out. he unpins it from his shirt to examine it properly. the arrows are still engraved, pointing to the left, but it glows its usual blue now. seungmin runs a finger along the etches, wondering if he had seen was actually real. “we stumbled upon the dragon’s footprint, so i bent down and touched it. and when i touched its big toe - er, _ claw _, i just fell backwards and saw all these things. colours, fire everywhere. a pixie.”

chan leans closer, intrigued. “a pixie?”

“yeah,” seungmin confirms. “it was hiding behind a tree. i caught a glimpse of it, before all i saw was just… fire. everywhere. like what happened afterwards-”

he stops short, and so does everyone else. silence falls upon all of them, encasing them in a confined box, save for hyunjin’s snore piercing through the tense quiet. “holy shit,” jisung’s eyes widen. “were you… were you looking at it from the dragon’s perspective?”

“you might be onto something,” chan nods his head. he takes a munch of his cookie and chews over the thought. “but what were you saying about the amulet?”

“it turned red,” seungmin explains. “and the arrows on it were turning wildly, before they just stopped. here, they’re pointed to the left.” he hands the amulet over to chan to take a look at. even changbin’s gotten out of his seat to lean over chan’s shoulder to inspect it properly. “and when i turned to my left, the dragon was right there.”

“i think i just got the shivers from that,” jisung chuckles dryly. the three friends watch the witches closely for any telltale signs of a reaction, but both of them stare down blankly at the metal amulet. chan turns it over in his hands. a frown splays itself across his lips.

when chan passes the amulet back to seungmin, he’s still frowning. “i’ve never heard of it,” he finally says. he scratches the back of his head, properly puzzled. “the amulet’s never turned red before; if it had, it would be down in the journal entries of previous guardians. and the arrows have always, _ always _, been fixed to the six o’clock hands of the clock. and the visions…” his voice falters momentarily. “well, that’s happened before.”

“but it never happened to _ me _ before,” seungmin protests. “what’s that all about?”

chan promptly clicks his fingers, and in an instance, a book materialises in his hand. the three of them jump back in surprise from the sudden spell. chan chuckles. “get used to it, kids,” he tuts, before cracking the book open and reciting aloud. “_ guardians who hold the amulet acquire several abilities _ , blah blah blah… alright, here it is. _ five, guardians have the ability to delve into a greater creature’s being by contact with a mark left by the creature, or by contact with another creature affecting by the greater creature _.” when his eyes flicker back up to meet seungmin’s startled look, he nods and slams the book shut. the book vanishes into thin air. “there you have it. your answer.”

“but why hasn’t it happened before this?” seungmin wonders aloud.

“because you’ve never stumbled across a greater being before. well, besides the ogre, and the goblins from yesterday,” chan shrugs. “though i can’t say anything about the amulet…”

from where felix is sat scratching the underside of pirrie’s chin, he glances up, a curious look in his eyes. “is there anyone who knows why? like, maybe there’s someone we can consult?”

the witches exchange a glance. “there’s no such thing as a forest consultant,” changbin grunts.

chan’s eyes glimmer. “ah, changbin ah, have you forgotten about _ them _?”

at his words, changbin’s face flushes a beetroot red. the three guardians look at each other, confused, before facing chan for an answer. meanwhile, changbin begins to spit and splutter, like a cranky old machine. “no, we are not going to meet them. nuh uh. no way. and if you guys do, i’m going to stay put here,” he says firmly.

“what’s all this about?” hyunjin groans, stirring awake. jisung cards a soothing hand through his hair as hyunjin slowly sits up and faces all of them. “what are we talking abo- ooh, cookies. don’t mind if i do.” eagerly, he leans forward to snatch up three cookies in one shot.

the witch pats changbin’s back lightly, a devious smirk spread across his face. “c’mon, changbin, it’s been ages. it’s all in the past already, dude.”

“what’s in the past?” seungmin quizzes. he narrows his eyes at changbin and quirks up an eyebrow in suspicion. “what, is this one of your forlorn exes again?”

changbin hisses at him through gritted teeth, but doesn’t say anything back. instead, he leans back in his armchair and presses a hand to his forehead. 

jisung’s eyes widen. “holy shit, how many people have you gotten it on with in this forest?” he blurts out.

“only two,” chan offers. “just that this one sent changbin right over the moon and back,” he adds with a giggle.

“shut up, dumbass,” changbin curses under his breath. yet, the colour has yet to fade away from his skin, instead spreading out in full bloom all the way to the tips of his ears. seungmin wonders if, possibly, the apprentice’s rough and tough demeanour is really just a facade for a softer side to him, considering how many lovers he’s been with. it awakens something locked away deep in the depths of seungmin’s chest, but he suppresses it down.

“who’s the unfortunate ex?” felix teases lightly. 

“luckily for us, it’s the governor of the pixies,” chan chirps. without letting the rest of them to recover from the initial shock (“he dated _ royalty _?” jisung gasps. “scandalous.”) chan stands to his feet and clasps his hands together. “pack your things, go to the loo, and get ready, everyone. it’s going to be quite the journey to the pixies.” he crouches down to pat pirrie, who barks with joy. “you too, little fella,” he adds cheerily.

☽

unlike the fae, the four guardians have probably only run into the pixies for a grand total of two times. nothing exciting, honestly, just to help a baby pixie down from the branches of an oak tree, and accidentally trampling over their pumpkin patch (at least they hadn’t attacked them like the vicious fae did, for heaven’s sake.)

the sun has set by the time they all emerge from the cottage, armed with their weapons and cookies in chan’s wicker basket. night has fallen over them all in a soft blanket. above them, the stars point their way eastwards to the direction of the pixies. they dwell in their home grounds far from the witches’ home, a two-hour walk perhaps. with some of their energy renewed, fuelled with the excitement of stories to be unveiled (and a yapping dog in felix’s arms), the six of them embark on their night journey through the foliage.

moonshine streaks across the forest floors, lighting their way in between the flora on either side of an uncertain path. they walk slowly, silently, lest there be a creature lurking amongst the shadows, prowling in their wake. chan keeps steady watch ahead of the group, whilst seungmin falls back behind the others, whipping his head from side to side in search of any enemies in hiding.

“aren’t you tired?” changbin suddenly asks seungmin. startled, seungmin swivels his head forwards to meet the apprentice’s eyes. changbin wears a deep frown on his lips with an expression unreadable etched on his face. “from the attack earlier?”

seungmin swats a hand at him with a sigh. “it’s fine,” he argues. he’s more surprised that changbin’s actually paying attention to him than the fact that he still has energy left in his tired body. “i’ll make do.”

changbin nods, but he still stands rooted to the spot, waiting for seungmin to catch up with him. “look,” he starts. from the seriousness of his tone, seungmin immediately realises what the other is about to say. “i want to… apologise for my behaviour. i haven’t been the nicest towards you or your friends these past two days.”

“uh huh,” seungmin answers half-heartedly. he keeps his eyes straight ahead of him, digging daggers into hyunjin’s back. “you don’t say.”

changbin paces beside him, the ends of his cloak fluttering behind him as he walks. “i mean it,” he insists. “and about yesterday, with morgana, and everything else. i’m sorry you had to see that yesterday.”

“mmhm,” seungmin hums. he pulls back an overhead branch in his way, and as he ducks underneath it, he lets it go. the branch swings back and hits changbin square in the face with a loud smack. seungmin knows he’s being a little bit mean, but he can’t help the small grin playing on his lips when he hears the apprentice yowl in pain. serves him right.

as changbin smooths out the throbbing ache on his forehead, he rushes to keep up with the guardian. “you’re probably not listening to me at all, but i wanted to say that,” he adds. “i’m not very welcoming like chan hyung is, nor am i friendly, or kind, or nice. but i do hold a lot of respect for you guys-”

“-see, that’s what i don’t get,” seungmin snaps. he glances at changbin, and narrows his eyes at the other. “you say that you respect us, yet you act so ungrateful towards us for saving your coven from going up into flames today. you say you’re sorry, but are you _ really _? you almost killed your ex yesterday if it weren’t for my help, and yet you didn’t even bat an eyelash or gave it a second thought.”

“you _ know _ what morgana did,” changbin seethes. “she wanted to steal my magic; in other words, she was going to _ kill _ me, bigshot.”

“but she didn’t kill you after all, did she?” seungmin spits. he stops in his tracks and faces changbin. the apprentice, too, halts and glares up at seungmin. “and she didn’t take away your magic. yet, you _ tore _ her wing, knowing that it’ll eventually kill her.”

changbin folds his arms across his chest in fury. “you talk as if she was never the perpetrator in the first place. if it weren’t for me, we would’ve been trapped under her goddamned fairy spell or whatever it is anyways!”

“we could’ve settled it differently,” seungmin retorts. his anger rises up his neck in a persistent surge. to think that he would’ve forgiven changbin - ha! what gives? “we didn’t have to resort to violence at all. it’s not like she’s some creature from the hellhole; she’s an inhabitant of the forest.”

changbin huffs. “you humans and your delusional, overenthusiastic optimism. it’s no wonder the entire forest is sceptical about you lot. and mind you, if it weren’t for chan and i today, you would’ve died in our wake.”

seungmin really, _ really _ just wants to tear his hair out right now. he growls in frustration. “if you thought i was going to accept your apology, i hope i’m crushing your dreams. this is, by far, the most half-assed apology i’ve ever heard in my life.” with that, he storms off, leaving changbin behind by himself as he charges forward to catch up with his other friends. as he walks, he thinks up of words to describe changbin: _ conceited, self-centred, ignorant, the list goes on and on and on _. he trudges past the overgrowth and blooming night flowers all the way to where chan is leading the troop, darts around to his basket and grabs a cookie. infuriated, he takes a massive bite out of the cookie.

“woah, hey, slow down champ,” chan chuckles nervously. when he notices seungmin’s angered face, he softens. “what’s going on? who’re you tryna beat up tonight?” he teases lightly.

“i think you should stop teaching your apprentice magic and start lecturing him on manners instead,” seungmin grumbles, before finishing off the cookie in two more bites.

chan shakes his head. “what did he do this time?”

seungmin laughs dryly. “he tried apologising. clearly, his heart is too cold to say the word ‘sorry’ without making snarky remarks about other people,” he gripes.

the witch nods his head. “changbin is… like that. i think it took him a whole month to hold a coherently polite conversation with me. he’s very closed off in that way,” he explains sympathetically. “he’s not as egoistic as he makes himself to be-”

“-oh, how i’d _ love _ to see that-” 

“-he’s very sensitive. he doesn’t like showing that he’s actually really emotional to others.”

as they turn round a bend, seungmin’s thoughts are momentarily drowned out by his friends’ giggling and pirrie’s barking from behind the pair. “sensitive?”

chan glimpses back, only to see changbin hanging behind the group with an expressionless look on his face. when he turns back around, he ruffles seungmin’s hair. “you realise that despite how tough he makes himself to be, i’m technically the one here who’s been single my whole life, not him,” he says. “when he shows his vulnerable side, it usually means he cares about you. and when he cares about someone, he usually falls for that person. really, really hard.” chan chuckles. “he’s very critical about people he first meets, and finds faults in them very easily, and nitpicks at everything they do. but if he tries to apologise to you… it means he’s beginning to care about how you view him.”

“he didn’t even give two shits about his apology.”

chan throws his head back and barks with laugher. “_ please _. the first time he tried apologising to me for breaking my cauldron, he burnt down our sitting room. you’re actually receiving the milder side of him.”

seungmin’s not quite sure what to think of chan’s words. instead, he stays silent and continues to walk further into the forest beside chan, who decides to hum a tune as they steer their way through the thicket of trees. the further they delve deeper into the woods, the foggier it seems to get. the swirly fog settles amongst them, inhibiting their vision the longer they walk. as the mist thickens, seungmin’s amulet glows brighter and brighter, lighting their way through the coppice of overgrown oak and weeds sticking out from the grounds. moss-covered boulders block their way at certain points, leading them to taking detours every ten minutes or so. eventually, even chan seems tired out from the excruciating walk.

“i think we’ve been walking for more than an hour,” seungmin pipes up. “let’s take a short break.” he catches chan flashing him a grateful smile, before the witch sprawls himself out on a fallen log without a care for the world. the others, too, practically collapse onto the ground in a heap, too worn out for any more small talk. only seungmin remains standing, stretching out his legs, and changbin, who’s… patting pirrie’s head.

seungmin raises an eyebrow. “i thought you hated my dog,” he says.

from where changbin has bent down to tangle his fingers through pirrie’s fur, he seems to observe pirrie from all angles. “where’d you get your dog from?” he suddenly asks.

“he’s a stray,” seungmin sniffs. “found him on the outskirts of the forest about seven or eight months back. why?”

changbin shakes his head. “feels like i’ve seen him before somewhere,” he mutters.

“hm?” seungmin stalks closer to where pirrie is and scoops him up in his arms. the dog barks happily in seungmin’s face and waggles his tail with joy, as if infected with boundless energy. it does seem strange for his dog to still be so lively after a long journey. “from where?”

“can’t remember,” changbin murmurs. he scratches pirrie’s chin, and in response, the dog licks along his fingers. he keeps his gaze on the dog, but he continues talking. “i heard your conversation with chan hyung.”

seungmin groans inwardly. “even if you had bionic hearing, you could’ve, i don’t know, ignored us?” he points out.

“sorry,” changbin mutters. pirrie’s now on his back, and changbin continues to rub circles on his belly. the dog whines softly, flaying his limbs out as he allows the other to tickle his sides. for someone who was previously very annoyed by the dog, changbin’s rather taken by pirrie now. “i couldn’t help it.”

seungmin’s not sure what else to say. there’s a thick tension between the both of them, and he’s not going to be the first to cut it. instead, he leans against the trunk of a willow tree and stares down at his worn-out boots. changbin seems to realise that seungmin’s not going to talk, so he starts up again. “i know i’m not in the place to apologise after what happened-”

“-no shit, sherlock-”

“-who’s sherlock?” changbin quizzes. he tilts his head up to look at seungmin, and the moonlight catches on his irises. they scintillate, the light reflected off of his eyes giving them a kind of shine. the incomprehensible feeling in his gut bubbles up again, and this time, seungmin allows it to begin consuming his insides, moving upwards to his chest.

“no one,” seungmin says. “‘s just a saying.” he tears his eyes away from changbin’s when he feels the warmth rise higher and higher, blossoming outwards from his chest. 

“oh.” changbin looks away, too (seungmin knows, because he’s watching changbin from his peripheral vision. not that anyone else needs to know that) before scrambling to his feet. he shoves his hands deep into the pockets of his cloak and shifts his weight awkwardly. “but still, i’d rather we don’t keep arguing all the time. i would prefer talking to you normally.”

“well, _ you’re _ the one who gets your own panties in a twist, not me,” seungmin scoffs.

changbin cocks his head sideways. “panties? but i wear bo-”

“-it’s just a saying,” seungmin interrupts. when he glances back at changbin, the latter holds his hands up in surrender. 

“i get it. i have a bad temper, i know.” changbin lowers his hands and stuffs them back into his pockets. he runs his tongue along his lower lip before adding, “and i’m sorry for that. so i’d like for us to talk more… amiably. comfortably. and if i say something out of line, you’re allowed to tell me off. after all…” he offers a small smile. “you’re the protector of the forest, aren’t you?”

the way he says it isn’t sarcastic at all, like seungmin had expected it to sound; it’s genuine, light and playful. seungmin cracks a grin back in return before lowering his gaze. “i don’t know,” he admits. he kicks at a pebble, sending it skidding across the ground before landing at changbin’s feet. “it makes me sound so important and shit, but in all honesty, i don’t know what i’m doing half the time. maybe even a quarter.”

“from the way i see it,” changbin says slowly, “from today, and yesterday with morgana, you don’t know what you’re doing, but you remain composed. you take the next sensible step. i never do that,” he laughs. his laughter surprises seungmin; it’s warm and contagious and it has seungmin joining in his laughter after a moment.

when the laughter subsides, seungmin shrugs. “i guess so.”

changbin grins. when he’s not serious, or irritated, or frustrated, or angry, he actually has quite a soft face, seungmin muses, from the liquid brown pools of his eyes down to the gentle slope of his nose, which heavily contrasts with his sharper chin. his cheeks are filled out, though, and seungmin catches a pair of silver earrings dangling off of his ears that he hadn’t taken note of earlier.

the warmth has begun prickling his neck now.

changbin glances up at the sky, breaking the moment - or, well, whatever they were sharing just now. (was it a moment? if so, what kind?) “moon’s pretty high up in the sky now,” he observes. “we should get going again.”

from where the boys are in a heap on the floor, jisung groans. “not again. my feet are positively _ killing _ me.”

chan, who seems to have regained some strength, begins plucking everyone off of the ground. he heaves jisung and hyunjin up with a pull of the arm, and jisung whines out loud. “you could’ve given us a warning!” 

the witch simpers to himself and turns to help felix up. he’s visibly gentler with felix, who flashes him a grin. when the boy crouches down to retrieve his bow and arrows, chan smiles so hard his dimples pop out.

beside him, changbin whistles. “i have never seen him this taken by anyone before,” he explains.

“i’ve never seen _ felix _ this taken by anyone before,” seungmin counters.

“they’re literally meant to be,” changbin chuckles. “if they don’t get together by the time we head back home, i’ll be quite surprised.”

with that said, all six of them carry on with their journey considerably deeper into the forest. chan casts a spell in another language to force the fog to dissipate. it dissolves, but a thin layer of mist still hangs above the ground. their steps are cautious as they venture down uncharted territory, with only a dingy map to guide their way through.

eventually, a green glow seems to pulsate from around a large boulder up ahead. “i think this is it,” chan hisses to the others, pointing at the source of the light. they noiselessly slink closer and closer to the light, and true enough, they round the boulder to find themselves standing in front of the mouth of a rocky cavern. vines tumble to the floor, hiding away the doorway into the cave rather well. chan pushes the vines aside and peeks into the cave.

“hey!” a voice suddenly screeches. the six of them leap back at the sight of a pixie appearing out of nowhere. her light green hair swishes with her every move, her unmistakable pointy ears poking out from underneath. she places a hand on her hip and narrows her eyes at them. “where do y’all think you’re going?”

“we’d like to see the governor, actually,” chan replies lightly.

the pixie furrows her eyebrows together. “i don’t remember you lot making an appointment with the prince.”

_ prince? _ the four guardians exchange confused looks, before staring daggers at changbin. the apprentice shrinks smaller in his stance, flashing them a sheepish grin while his cheeks begin to fill with colour.

seungmin blinks in shock. “i didn’t know you dated the prince of the pixies,” he half-whispers at him.

“does it matter?” changbin whispers back. 

“no,” seungmin lies. it does matter. it matters, because now the warmth in his neck is slowly but surely rising all the way to the very tips of his ears. he’s so screwed.

meanwhile, chan is still negotiating with the pixie. “look, if you let us in,” he begins, “you’ll be saving all the goddamned asses of this forest. something happened this evening that is bound to happen again if we don’t see your prince.”

“what happened, then? care to explain?” she sniffs, cocking her chin out at him.

a light bulb flashes in seungmin’s head. “i saw one of your kind. in my visions.”

at this, the pixie swivels around to look at seungmin. her lips part in shock. _ gotcha _. “what? what pixie?”

“a girl. she was far out from here, near the outskirts of the forest. a dragon came out and attacked her, i believe - the dragon we just faced mere hours ago.”

the pixie claps a hand over her mouth. “and where’s charlize? is she safe? where’s she now?”

“i don’t know,” seungmin says. “we don’t know, and that’s why we’re here, actually. to find answers, just like you.” he swallows. “i’m sorry for your loss, but it’s of utmost importance that we see the prince now before something like this happens again.”

the pixie chews on her lower lip, torn between following the order and her own emotions. when her eyes lower, they gaze at the amulet on his chest with awe. “no wonder you know about it,” she gasps. “_ you’re _ the guardian of the silver forest?”

“yeah,” seungmin nods, scratching his head awkwardly.

“my humble apologies,” she bows her head, and in an instance, allows them in. chan pats seungmin’s back gratefully, and leads their way in. the inside of the cave is blinding; light green gems protrude out from the walls of the caves, the rock studded with crystals and ores. seungmin can’t help but trace a finger along the edges of the cracks in the rock, absorbed by the pale glow of each individual gem. the air here is more humid, but fresh, and cool like the night air outside, not hot and stuffy like he’d expected. 

they turn a sharp corner, and are quietly ushered into an opening in the wall. the moment they step in, the thunderous sound of a horn signals their arrival. startled, jisung yelps and jumps back, knocking into hyunjin, who consequently knocks against felix. needless to say, the three of them scream and tumble to the floor in a heap.

the pixie holding the horn lowers the instrument sheepishly. “oops,” he whispers.

“ow, get off of me, fat ass,” hyunjin grumbles, shoving jisung off of him. before jisung can protest, chan hauls the both of them up by the collar, a fake smile plastered across his face as he stares forward. “your highness.”

sitting before them on a throne is most probably one of the most beautiful people seungmin’s ever seen in his life. the governor raises a curved eyebrow at the scene before him, a small smirk on his lips. his high cheekbones seem to be dusted with a silver powder, and the light from the gems on the walls gleam off of them. his hair is styled so half is falling past his hair, the rest pushed back in an elegant sweep. and… seungmin hates to admit it, but he’s never seen someone pull of a lush dark green robe as well as the man before them. 

the prince glances at the pixie who had allowed them in, left standing beside the group. “and why’d you let them in, again?” he asks, pursing his lips together. his voice is velvety smooth, honey flowing gently from a jar, and yet somehow sharp as a knife.

“your highness, amongst them is the guardian. he knows about charlize,” she explains.

the prince nods slowly. as he scans the six of them, his eyes flit towards changbin. “ah, changbin ah. long time, no see.”

“your highness,” changbin gulps, and bows his head.

“please,” the prince giggles. seungmin’s never met royalty, let alone hear one giggle like a schoolboy. “you’ve called me minho before.”

changbin blushes and peers down at the ground. seungmin can’t really blame him. meeting two exes in two consecutive days doesn’t sound very fun at all.

several of the pixies around them have begun buzzing, all shocked and amused by the prince’s words. seungmin swivels around to glance at jisung, who’s taken aback by minho’s beauty as well. it takes hyunjin jabbing his elbow sharply at jisung’s ribs to snap him back to reality.

“and who are the others?” minho asks. it takes seungmin a moment to realise that the prince is talking to him.

“my guardian, uh, friends,” he gestures towards felix, jisung and minho. “and my two witch friends.” 

minho nods. “and i’ve heard that you have come from far to seek answers.”

“yeah,” seungmin confirms. “i mean, yes, your highness.”

minho chuckles and slides off of the throne. he pushes a fallen strand out of his eyes, the grin never wiped away from his face, not even for a second. “then i suppose we should gather in the meeting room. it’s much more secluded, and we can talk informally inside.”

still a little starstruck, seungmin strides across the room, behind minho. the others follow suit, too, past the throne room and down another hallway. they enter a small, empty room. bookshelves are pressed against the walls, books with yellowed pages and weathered bindings stuffed into the shelves. a long mahogany wood table greets them, and minho guides them to their seats, before taking his own seat at the head of the table. up close, he looks even more majestic, with silver eyeshadow and glossy silver eyes. and then it clicks: changbin’s wearing the same eyeshadow as the prince himself.

“so,” minho begins, clasping his hands together on the table. “i’m very curious as to why you lot have travelled so far just to come see me. surely not just for tea and biscuits, hm?”

“no, your highness-”

“-that’s minho hyung to you, dear guardian,” minho interrupts. “like i said, we talk like friends in here.”

“sorry,” seungmin flushes.

“i haven’t caught any of your names, either. well, except for you, changbin ah.” minho blinks deliberately at changbin, who mutters something incoherent under his breath and looks away. “so, fire away.”

seungmin clears his throat. “i’m seungmin. the one with the bows and arrow is felix, the one with the staff is hyunjin, the one with nothing is jisung-”

“-hey!-”

“-and the other witch is chan,” seungmin finishes with a flourish. when he turns back to face minho, the prince nods. 

“lovely names,” he comments. “i heard something concerning charlize, our little one who we have supposedly lost today.” for the first time since they met, the corners of his lips turn downwards. “we haven’t lost any of our kind in a very long while; we tend to have rather long lifespans. i’m quite disturbed by this news, so i’m actually glad you lot are here today. perhaps you could shed some light on this matter.”

seungmin hesitates, not knowing where to start. thankfully, chan explains for him, repeating their tale of how seungmin had seen visions of charlize, how the dragon had come to attack the silver forest, how they managed to defeat the dragon and decided to make a visit to the pixies.

“i don’t follow,” minho says. “if you defeated the dragon, why’re you here for answers? this is our first time hearing of a dragon as well.”

“actually,” seungmin pipes up. “we wanted to ask about my amulet.”

“your amu-” when minho examines the amulet on seungmin’s shirt, his eyes widen. “may i please take a look at it?”

seungmin removes the metal orb and passes it to minho, who takes it with delicate hands. he turns it over, allowing it to rest on his palm and squints at the centrepiece. “am i turning blind, or are those arrows misplaced?” he wonders aloud.

“you’re not,” seungmin answers firmly. “we saw it, the four of us guardians. it happened before the dragon attacked; it glowed bright red and the arrows began turning like crazy. when they stopped, they landed in this direction, pointing straight at the dragon hidden in the trees.”

the guardian notices how minho’s forehead quivers the more he stares at the amulet. he places the amulet down on the table and rushes to the closest bookshelf. at a loss of words, the others can only watch on as minho drags a finger along the spines of the dozens of books on the shelves. he murmurs something under his breath, a small “aha!” and removes a red leather-bound book. 

he hauls it to the table, and it falls with a thump onto the wood. dusting his hands, the prince flips several pages, skims the words and finally lands somewhere in the middle of the book. “alright,” he breathes. “this is something many creatures of the forest are not enlightened about, because it’s something that might wreck the inhabitants and turn this very place upside down.”

his cryptic words baffle the others. “like, some sort of secret?” felix perks up.

“not a secret,” minho corrects, “but it’s not spoken of very much, either. i doubt you would know.” when he peeks up at them, he asks, “do you know that the dragon is the second greatest creature to exist in the _ cavum nigram _ ? and for it to have been released into the a _ rgantum silvam _, it would’ve needed a hell lot of force?

“so you say,” seungmin says quietly. 

hyunjin adds, “we’ve had to fight off a few greater creatures these past few days. ogres, great goblins, and a dragon today. we’ve heard the _ cavum nigram _ is sending out greater beings now.”

“word travels very fast around here,” minho nods. “i’ve heard.”

he flips a few more pages, and makes a gesture for them all to crowd around the book. seungmin, stood beside minho, has a clear view of the sketch on the weathered page; the hand-drawn amulet looks back up at him, its arrows pointing at the three fifteen time. “that’s weird,” seungmin says, pointing at the amulet. “its hands aren’t at the six o’clock time. 

“that’s because they initially weren’t pointed at that time.” minho locks eyes with seungmin, his eyelashes fluttering, his silver eyes dilated. “the hundred-year curse set the arrows to the six o’clock time.”

“the hundred-year curse?” the four guardians echo in unison. 

jisung falls dramatically back onto his stool. “god, when will this day _ end _ already,” he moans, throwing his head back in exhaustion.

minho chuckles, but he returns his attention to the book. “the hundred year curse is considered a myth, a legend, but it’s true, written down by our very own first guardian. he remains nameless, though we know that he was a male-”

“-how would you know the gender if you don’t even have his name?” chan cuts in.

“somewhere along his journal he describes a rather crude imagery of a ‘gay awakening’ and a certain something in his pants-”

“-i think we get it,” seungmin cringes.

“his journal?” chan blurts out. “the first guardian? i thought the first guardian was the queen of the fae, lyviana, the-”

“-you _ thought _,” minho interrupts. “ and you thought wrongly. like i said, it’s unheard of, unspoken of, because as soon as the first guardian disappeared, every inhabitant did, too. all he left was an amulet to passed down every fifteen years, or more, considering the guardian’s choice.”

minho flips to the next page. there, the sketch of the amulet is coloured in red, dusty at the corners to signify its glow. “before any of us were alive, the silver forest was a chaotic mess of creatures from the_ cavum nigram _ and creatures from our own world. if it weren’t for our first guardian, we wouldn’t be here at all.

“he was a tinker. he created the amulet, gathering gemstones and pieces from all across the forest, set it in osmium and iridium, and gave it a spell of its own. with that, he helped fight against the creatures and sealed up the _ cavum nigram _ for good. but with the limited time he had, he could only seal it for a hundred years or so.

“it is said that, on the first full moon of the hundredth year, the _ cavum nigram _ will reopen its gates, and our lands will be taken over by these evil forces.”

silence falls over the group as they struggle to process minho’s words. even seungmin can only really make out one clear word in his mind right now: _ what? _

“i don’t understand,” chan starts. “none of us know of this story. why is it that only you pixies know of this legend?”

minho huffs. “we do tell, but would the fae and gnomes and trolls listen and believe us pixies? they think we’re a bunch of pointy-eared nobodies who have too much to talk about. for years, my father has warned the forest, but to no avail. it’s not written down in history, except for his old journal.”

“then show them the journal,” chan insists. his voice is now raised, obviously furious, and it slightly intimidates seungmin. he hasn’t seen chan flare up in these two days before. “it’s hard evidence; they can’t dismiss this fact!”

“that’s the _ problem _!” minho exclaims. “the journal disappeared about ninety years ago, and it was found by my forefather all those years ago. he kept it locked away in the pixie archives until one day, it simply disintegrated into dust and nothing more.”

chan scoffs. “so the story you’re telling us now might just be nothing more than a story, then. you have no concrete proof that what you said to us is true. how are we supposed to trust you lot? how can we be so sure that there was a first guardian at all?”

the prince snaps the book shut with a deafening slam. “you came here for answers, i’m giving you answers. if you’re not going to accept them, then what for do you all walk this journey to come seek us?” he blurts out incredulously. “you saw it for yourselves. the amulet. the arrows. it says here in this goddamned book that the amulet glows red in signs of grave danger. the arrows will point to three fifteen, signifying a repeat of the tale a hundred years ago.”

seungmin blinks. “i think you should’ve told us that earlier,” he says.

minho sighs. “i missed that bit out, didn’t i.”

chan closes his eyes shut, before fluttering them open. “i can’t believe the rest of the forest has been living a lie this whole time. can’t they just give us a manual about the history of this place?” he groans, running a hand through his greasy hair.

“for once, i agree with you,” changbin mutters. 

“me three,” jisung pipes up.

the prince, clearly tired out from the explanation, slumps back into his chair. “do you believe us now?” he asks quietly. “this is all we’ve known of the first guardian. we don’t even know if he was a pixie, a fairy, a imp, or even a human. we even think it could’ve been a greater creature itself.”

the onslaught of information has stemmed seungmin’s thinking. he can’t seem to process anything else. the words and letters remain scattered in a heap in his mind. _ first guardian. curse. amulet. three fifteen. full moon- _“when’s the first full moon of the hundredth year?” seungmin abruptly asks.

minho looks at him. “the journal’s last date was said to be in november. after that, we assume the guardian disappeared altogether. and…” he grits his teeth together. “we presume the hundredth year to be this year. what with the recent sightings of the greater creatures, we can only believe this is so.”

the witch almost explodes. “the full moon this month is in _ two days _ and we’re discovering about this _ now _?” he cries.

seungmin’s eyes widen. he catches the stunned looks on felix, hyunjin and jisung’s faces, all mirroring each other’s. clearly, the last arrow whizzed right through the air and hit them all bullseye. clearly, the last arrow hit their worst spots, because now seungmin can’t even put words together into a coherent sentence.

“and what have you pixies been doing, huh? lounging around and waiting for the rest of the forest to die? why couldn’t you have reached out to the guardians at all?” chan accuses.

“i said we _ presume _ ,” minho bites back. “i didn’t say it was _ confirmed _. no one kept track of how many years it has been since the last sighting of the first guardian. if not for the recent telltale signs of the greater creatures, we wouldn’t have suspected it, either. so i suggest you stop pointing fingers at my face and instead politely sit your ass down and keep your suspicions to yourself.”

“okay, _ please _,” changbin cuts in. he bites down on his lower lip, and when seungmin squints, he’s surprised to see the apprentice’s hands on the table quivering with trepidation. “let’s not argue about this. we get it. you didn’t have concrete evidence. you didn’t know the curse is to be lifted this year. we didn’t know about the first guardian, or the amulet, or any of this. both sides need time to digest this.”

from how calm and composed his tone is, seungmin would’ve believed his bluff if not for his twitching fingers. he’s quite relieved that the apprentice had taken the role of the peacemaker whilst chan is still angered by minho’s words. changbin continues, “in the meantime, i suggest you alert the forest dwellers. it doesn’t matter if they don’t believe you; our only evidence now are the sightings of the greater creatures that have caused havoc recently. there’s no other trail we can take.” he frowns. “no one is sure of anything. none of us know the truth. so we might as well work with what we have and roll with it.”

minho bats his eyelashes at changbin, obviously impressed by the other’s words. “you speak as eloquently as when we first met, changbin ah,” he says smoothly. “i now remember why i was so taken by you.”

“and you don’t remember how you dumped my ass later, do you,” changbin adds flatly.

minho sighs. “sometimes, things don’t work out, dear,” he presses his lips into a thin line. “i know i never reasoned why i did that. naivety tends to do that - blur the lines and make things unclear.” he simply glimpses back at seungmin, and smiles gently at him. “sometimes, things don’t work out, but i do wish the bestest of luck to you and your team. i’ll take the necessary measures to warn the forest inhabitants, and we’ll see how it goes. maybe fate will be by our side this time.”

without any warning, minho clicks his fingers - and they land back outside the cavern.

“did he-” chan splutters. “did he just kick us out?”

changbin shrugs. “i guess,” he mumbles. he notices pirrie at his feet and cooes at him, before scooping him up in his arms. “was pirrie out here the whole time?”

“oh shit, i didn’t even realise,” seungmin murmurs. 

“how could you forget the _ dog- _”

“_ -guys _,” chan sighs. “we don’t have much time left. if minho’s spreading the word now, we need to start preparing.”

“but how are we supposed to prepare when we don’t even know what we’re facing up against?” seungmin retorts. he stares at chan, at his defeated look, at his slumped body. “i know you want a plan, chan,” he says softly, “but we’re going to have to go where the wind blows. minho’s right. sometimes, things won’t work out.” he glances at his other friends, at chan, at changbin. “but sometimes, things will. we can only be optimistic this time around.”

☽

“i think,” jisung begins, as they trudge through the forest on the way back to the coven, “i’m going to hurl.”

“please don’t- oh, babe,” hyunjin exhales as the other bends down and pukes right over the side, into some bushes of wild blueberries. the others wince at the sight whilst jisung empties his stomach out into the bushes. hyunjin rubs comforting circles along the other’s back, whispering something to him. seungmin decides to walk ahead and let the two of them be; after all, it’s been much too long of a night for all of them, actually.

chan walks ahead, alone, still too blinded by his own emotions to swallow what has been told to them tonight. changbin walks close behind him, just to be sure the other doesn’t go off. (“he’s not usually very emotional,” changbin had explained to seungmin behind his hand. “but when he gets mad or upset, he can… be very unpredictable. he almost blew up the coven once.” seungmin can only presume that changbin’s not the only moody one in the house) felix stays by seungmin’s side, clutching onto his arm as they dodge past several rocks in their way, careful not to slip on any puddles.

as they pass by a rather murky moat, felix peers into it. “did we pass by here just now?” he questions seungmin.

seungmin shrugs. “i honestly can’t remember,” he mumbles, voice thick with lethargy.

conscious of his friend’s weariness, felix allows seungmin to lean on him. “you okay?”

“somewhat,” seungmin laughs dryly. “i can barely even think right now.”

fallen leaves crunch under their muddy boots with every step that they take. felix helps seungmin clamber over a mossy boulder, and turns his head back just to check on their other two friends. as he helps seungmin down, seungmin wobbles slightly and stumbles into felix’s arms. “sorry!”

“it’s alright,” felix grins, and loops an arm around his friend’s shoulder. “i think your legs are giving out.”

“but i’m only nineteen,” seungmin whines playfully. felix shakes his head and pinches his cheeks. he’s about to open his mouth to say something when something glares red in between the both of them.

“wha-” seungmin peers down. his blood stops cold at the sight of his amulet radiating red, pulsating as heavily as it had done several hours ago. he whips his head around, trying to identify the source of the oncoming creature. “chan, changbin!”

both witches turn around, frozen to the spot when their eyes land on the boy’s amulet. they’re rushing forward, pebbles chipping under the soles of their boots when the red glow dissipates. they stare down at the amulet, perplexed looks on their faces before they begin to exchange worried glances.

“is something going to appear now?” jisung asks ominously, as soon as he and hyunjin catch up to the rest of them.

“i-i don’t know,” seungmin stutters. he grits his teeth together to prevent them chattering; the shiver down his spine spreads over his arms to the tips of his fingers. he traces the outline of the amulet carefully. “i-”

out of the blue, pirrie starts growling. stunned, all six of them turn heads towards the dog, sat on a boulder on the banks of the moat. with his heart in his throat, seungmin’s eyes widen into saucers as a ripple in the waters grows, and grows, and grows, and-

“run!” chan screams. in a flurry of feet, they hit the ground and start running faster than they ever have before. seungmin dares himself to peer behind his shoulder, and he practically squeaks at the sight. a few metres behind them, a creature slips and flops out of the moat, its green scales glittering under the midnight moonlight. Its narrow silver eyes sparkle with mischief, and it opens its mouth wide - revealing row after row of sharp fangs winking back at him. in a blink of an eye, it leaps right after them, its footsteps heavy and thunderous as it chases for them.

“run faster, _ faster _!” chan leads the group through a thicket of trees, vaulting over rocky boulders and prickly bushes. a thorn catches on seungmin’s pants (his second favourite pair!) and he grunts as the fabric rips. he stumbles on his footing before catching himself and picking up the pace once again.

sweat pours down from his forehead. behind them, the creature snarls. a gust of hot breath washes over them in a wave, hurdling them forward. seungmin huffs, swinging himself forward with his arms, but no matter what, he’s still slower than the others, the last of the group, the first nearest to the creature…

changbin swivels around and gasps. “seungmin, look out!” 

the guardian whips his head around quickly and realises just how close the creature is. without any hesitation whatsoever, he waves his arm out in a desperate attempt to keep the creature away. the creature growls as its head bashes right into the trunk of an old pine tree. sticks and branches explode and hurtle into the air, and seungmin has to duck to avoid the oncoming impact.

“just run, seungmin!” he hears chan order, and it falls upon deaf ears. there’s no way seungmin’s going to outrun this creature, whatever it is; he might as well fend it away whilst he can. 

he waves his arm out with a shout, feels the energy burst like a dam from his fingers as he extends his arm out. the creature stumbles over its feet and lands to the ground, the force sending grits of soil flying over the guardian. 

heat emanates from the amulet in bursts of red hues. seungmin feels the heat rise to his head and drop to the soles of his boots. even with the sheer force of seungmin’s strength on the creature, it still manages to wrangle its head from the grounds and glare down at the guardian. seungmin feels small, a tiny speck about to be crushed to death by this merciless monster. 

the creature plunges down, its neck darting out, its head poised for attack. its mouth is wide open, and could engulf seungmin’s body with one snap of its muscular jaw. frozen to the spot, seungmin helplessly squeezes his eyes shut and awaits his oncoming death.

“seungmin!” he can barely make out the distant voice above the heavy breaths of the monster before him. he weakly raises his arm out, crying from how sore his muscles are, how painful it is to bear the heat of his amulet. the creature snarls, saliva pouring from the corners of its open mouth. in a blink of an eye, it shuts its jaw-

“seungmin!” the teeth catch onto seungmin’s sleeve, digging down. but something flies across the air and hurls seungmin to the side. the fangs pierce through the skin of his upper arm, deep enough for the pain to rupture into an explosion. seungmin screams from the pain, rather than the impact of falling onto the forest floors.

he feels himself slipping away from reality. with every last ounce of strength in his body, seungmin wrenches his eyes open, to watch the witch and the apprentice and felix fend the creature off. he sees a pair of people dashing past the creature, their mouths open, shrieking. their voices mingle, warbling through the air. he hears the echoes of his name - “seungmin! seungmin!” - but exhaustion conquers and claims victory for this battle, and his eyelids finally slide shut for good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heya everayboday! thanks for the support so far with this work <3 unfortunately, i'll be off overseas for a holiday for the next ten days, so the fourth chapter will probably only be up after the 9th/10th of december (depending on how fast i can type sksksk) hope you all understand, and i'll be looking forward to posting the next chapter. thank you!


	4. for every broken bone and every lie you've told

_ seungmin. kim seungmin. _

the darkness blotches out the remnants of light in the far distance. the voice wades in and out, low, dark. familiar. 

_ has our chosen one already fallen to the depths? how pitiful. _

it’s wondrous, seungmin thinks. voices, the intonation and tonality, pitch and amplitude, caused by vibrations produced in the larynx that waver through the air, falling upon curious and curiouser ears. the darkness bleaches seungmin’s subconscious vision. every ounce of light is smothered over in the darkness’ wake.

_ i haven’t even welcomed you home yet, seungmin. _

and the ear snatches up the vibrations. the brain interprets it into sound, into words, into a fear that pierces seungmin into half and rips his insides apart. it sears a burn down the skin of his arms, his torso, his legs. it sears a burn unimaginably painful that his lips part in a scream.

and yet, no voice comes out.

_ come home, seungmin. come home. _

seungmin’s mouth is fixated, open in a silent scream. in his peripheral vision, he sees it: an even darker figure, painted against the backdrop. no taller than himself, no shorter. no bigger, no smaller. the scariest thing is how there is not even the slightest difference in those glimmering brown eyes staring right back at him.

_ come home, seungmin. come home. _

and the light slices the darkness apart.

☽

seungmin’s eyes wrench open. he shoots straight upright, rendering the four people before him speechless. he gasps and chokes on his breath. his throat feels constricted into a narrow opening. 

a silence looms over the group before jisung manages to find his voice. “h-he’s awake! he’s alive! holy shit!”

in a flurry of arms and dirtied clothes, his three guardian friends fling their bodies over seungmin’s. a chorus of cheers rings up as they all haul themselves over seungmin’s torso, crying tears of joy. seungmin glances down at the heap of them wordlessly, too stunned to think of anything to say.

“alright, everybody, get off of him. you’re gonna crack his arm into half,” chan orders, but a relieved smile frames his face. when everyone’s distanced themselves from the bed, the witch nears seungmin and ruffles his hair. “hey, kid. you got us all worried for a second there.”

“more like five hours,” jisung pipes up. “dude, we had to watch all the blood pour out of you for a solid two hours, it was _ insane- _”

the rest of them immediately shush him. “-ly cool?” jisung finishes.

dazed, seungmin’s eyes wander from the sheets encased over his torso, up to the cloths wrapped and knotted firmly on his upper arm, to his friends’ worried eyes and to…

“where’s changbin?” seungmin asks. alarm bells begin ringing in his head as he darts his head around the sitting room. they’re back in the witch’s coven, but with no apprentice in sight. “and where the _ hell _ is pirrie?”

“steady there, kid,” chan says. “well, you see here….” he scratches the nape of his neck before peering at the other three boys. they instantly avoid all eye contact: jisung begins whistling, hyunjin suddenly pays attention at his muddy sneakers, and felix sniffs the armpits of his shirt. the witch sighs before glancing back at seungmin.

seungmin bites down on his lower lip. “_ please _ don’t tell me that creature got my dog,” he pleads.

“no, no, nothing that serious,” chan chuckles nervously. “we’ve, uh, actually got some good news-”

“-well,” felix butts in, “that’s if you _ consider _ it good news-”

“-which you should-”

“-but if you’re overly attached, you’ll be kinda upset-”

“-but he’s still going to-”

“-what’s going on in here?”

the unfamiliar voice stirs everyone’s attention. seungmin lets his eyes fall upon a man leaning against the doorframe leading into the sitting room. his honey brown hair curls at the ends, pushed up and back elegantly into a wave. he’s dressed in a white button-down, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, paired with black slacks. the corner of his lips is turned up into a grin. 

something bubbles in the depths of his gut yet again, because he’s _ definitely _ seen that shade of brown before… “wait,” seungmin breathes. “_pirrie _?”

“that’s what you call me,” the man (man-dog? dog-man? puppy-human?!) smiles warmly. “and that is, by the way, an excellent name for a dog.”

from behind the man, (human-dog? a _ werewolf _???) changbin steps out slowly. he notices seungmin sat up on the bed, and his eyes widen. “you’re alive,” changbin chokes out.

“unfortunately,” seungmin half-jokes on impulse, but his eyes are still transfixed to the man before him. “you’re shitting me, right? you’re not actually my dog. there’s no _ way _ you’re my dog.”

“you’re half-right there, seungmin,” the man says. he tilts his head sideways in a way so akin to pirrie, it drives seungmin’s blood cold. “and also half-wrong. correction: i _ was _ your dog. but more importantly,” the man looks straight at him in the eye, “i’m the first guardian, and perhaps the only human guardian before you.”

_ the first guardian. _ memories of yesterday night break through the dam obstructing his train of thoughts in seungmin’s mind. the pixies, the amulet, the moat creature; they all rush in a hive of activity, a puzzle broken up into a pile of unsolvable pieces. noting seungmin’s confusion, the man strides across the room and walks around the bed. he grins and lifts the necklace up from around his neck. there, dangling on the silver chain, is a pendant in the shape of a bone, a name carved into the gleaming silver. _ pirrie _ . “it’s great to finally meet you, human to human, seungmin ah.” he sticks a hand out with a glint in his eyes. “i’m wonpil, first guardian and keeper of the _ argantum silvam- _”

and, like any sane person whose dog has transformed into a human, seungmin passes out.

☽

“i don’t get it,” seungmin says slowly, when he comes to about two hours later (and also, after a long shower because he stinks so fucking _ bad _). “what about the creature that attacked me? why am i still alive? and more importantly, why has my yorkshire terrier turned into a goddamned human and first guardian of the forest?”

seated across from him and his friends, the witches and former guardian face the four boys with equally grim expressions. finally, changbin sets his teacup down first. “it was a sea serpent. it materialised from the moat and attacked you, probably after your amulet,” he explains. “serpents have been said to roam around searching for precious trinkets and treasures.”

“changbin saved you,” chan adds. “if he hadn’t pushed you away, the serpent would’ve inflicted greater damage upon you. to be frank, i don’t think you’d be alive right now.”

surprised, seungmin looks at changbin, whose eyes remain fixed to his teacup. his heart lifts and soars, a bird spreading its wings out. without realising, the words are already on his lips. “thank you.”

changbin glimpses up, surprised as well, but he offers the other a small smile. “couldn’t just let you die, kid,” he says softly. the tips of his ears are reddening with every passing second, and seungmin wouldn’t be surprised if the same was happening to him as well.

wonpil clears his throat. “sorry to interrupt that moment, but i think we’ve got a lot of explaining to do,” he starts.

“yeah,” jisung chimes in. “bro, you just decided to show up one day before all hell breaks loose in this freaking forest? i think i speak for everyone when i say: what the frigging hell?!”

a volcano of questions erupt from the four confused guardians, each rapping out their own questions. wonpil sighs and raises a hand to silence them. “look, i get it. i was there with y’all when you came out of the pixies’ cavern, and i gathered that you heard about it,” he admits. “allow me to spill my stuff before you guys come in with your questions, alright? like you said, we’re running out of time. and,” he glances at changbin momentarily, “i believe i told changbin almost everything already, and he’ll help you understand as well.

“he mentioned that the pixies revealed about the hundred year curse, and how every creature simply disappeared when the curse was imposed by, well, me. i call it a blessing, to be honest: life began again in this forest. what was not told by neither the pixies nor my book is that i didn’t disappear. yet, i didn’t have the time and energy to think about where i could go.”

hyunjin furrows his eyebrows. “so you decided to transform yourself into seungmin’s dog?”

wonpil rolls his eyes. “i get that it sounds stupid, but it was the easiest way and it took up, like, zero effort. plus, technically seungmin found me and i ended up as his dog. i almost forgot that us humans like to pick up strays on the street and claim them as our own pets.”

embarrassed, seungmin blushes. “sorry about that.”

the former guardian waves a hand dismissively. “never mind that. anyway. seeing my limited time and effort as well, i could only contain the _ cavum nigram _ for a hundred years, after which the creatures will come spilling out again as they did a hundred years ago-”

“-holy shit,” jisung gasps. “are you a hundred years old-”

“-that,” wonpil cuts off sharply, “is not important right now-”

“-wait,” chan interrupts, “but you look so _ young- _”

“-can i please get on with my story, or are we going to sit around and sip tea for the rest of the day?” wonpil groans. when everyone’s silenced (with even more questions popping up in their heads), he continues. “i configured it so that i could be released from my dog form before the curse to reverse it, but i duly forgot that the role of the guardian was to be passed down to whoever the amulet chose next.

“knowing that, i realised it would be kinda hopeless unless that guardian knew the trick to defeating the underdwellers. i’d like to think that it’s fate when seungmin returned home one day holding that glowing blue amulet in his hand.” he grins, and his eyes turn up into crescents. “i don’t think my tail ever wagged that quickly before.”

“there’s a trick?” seungmin wonders aloud.

wonpil nods. “something i had to face myself the last time. I’ll get into that later. anyways, i do feel regretful that all this is only known now for i somehow couldn’t be released into my human form up till yesterday night, but i think it had something to do with my successor almost dying yesterday.”

“you make it sounds as if i _ wanted _ to die yesterday-”

“-tut tut,” wonpil clicks his tongue. “out of the discussion. we do not talk about it.”

“yeah, dude,” felix adds. “after you almost died, pirrie - sorry, _ wonpil _went berserk. when we arrived at the cottage, he just exploded and turned into a completely naked human.”

“i was doing fine without that image in my head,” seungmin grimaces.

wonpil folds his arms across his chest. “anyhow, the thing is, there’s no way for me to prevent what’s going to happen from happening. i’m not the guardian anymore, which means that the fate of the forest is in your hands, seungmin,” he explains.

seungmin’s jaw drops. “but how am i supposed to stop this entire fleet of creatures from taking over this entire land?” he blurts out incredulously. he grips his knees with sweaty palms, wiping them on his jeans. “can’t you do anything to make sure the curse keeps, i don’t know, working?”

sighing, wonpil shakes his head. 

changbin perks up. “but wonpil knew how to find the miranda, so he can help,” he offers.

“who the hell is miranda?” jisung groans. “and can you guys whip up some scones or something? all this thinking is making me hungry.” begrudgingly, changbin clicks his fingers, and a plate of warm blueberry scones materialise on the coffee table. jisung more than happily scoops up two in a hand. 

amused, wonpil takes up a scone for himself as well. “no one knows,” he answers. “the miranda is what most of the first gen called the governor of the underdwellers - that’s what i call the inhabitants of that black hole. no one knows what they look like, mainly because they take on the form of the thing - or person - that scares you most. they strike your weakest chord and aim for it.”

“but you overcame your fear,” seungmin observes.

wonpil chuckles dryly. “you’re smart, kid,” wonpil smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “yeah, it makes it sound as if i did, didn’t i?”

curious, chan leans closer. “what _ was _ your fear?” he asks.

“is,” wonpil corrects. his gaze drops to his feet. with his eyes lowered, he mumbles, “i still haven’t gotten over it.”

the silence conforms into a thick tension hanging in the air, waiting for someone to slice it apart. out of the blue, seungmin’s jean pocket starts buzzing crazily. 

felix’s eyes bug out. “is that your _ phone _? how did you not lose your phone in the middle of everything yesterday?” he’s half-shocked, half-amused.

“zero idea,” seungmin breathes. he slides the phone out of his pocket and swipes across the screen. when he catches sight of the time displayed onscreen, he sucks in a sharp breath. “Shit. shit, it’s 9am. shit, my parents don’t know where i am!”

**mum:** seungmin? did you go out?

**mum:** you know you have to tell us first if you’re going out

**mum:** i made breakfast

**mum:** if you’re not gonna tell us at least inform us where you are, alright? x

“just tell him you’re at my place,” jisung insists. “to, uh, tutor me.”

dread fills a hole in his heart as seungmin hastily replies to his mum. he hesitates for a moment before finally pressing send and turning the screen off. he presses a palm to his forehead and hisses. _ a lie on top of another lie _ , he thinks. _ it will never end. how am i going to explain to my parents that i’m facing an army of monsters in a forest tomorrow? _

after a few seconds tick by, chan sets his cup down to pour himself some more chamomile tea. “since that’s dealt with, how about we discuss our strategy for tomorrow? seeing as, well, there’s no way to prevent what’s going to happen.” he glances at wonpil for approval. “so we’re just going to let the wind blow us along?”

the other man nods grimly. “it’s not going to be pleasant,” he sighs. “the thing the miranda yearns for the most is two things: the amulet, because if they destroy it, there will be no more guardians. no more guardians means no protection. two, the silver forest. expanding territory and absorbing all the magic of the forest, inhabitants, everything.

“i saw it for myself a hundred years ago. it’s hard, seeing everyone you’ve made friends with in this place collapse and die in a heap when they suck the magic out of you.” he keeps his eyes downcast to the floor the whole time, his cheeks reddening with every passing moment. seungmin has the urge to ask a question on the tip of his tongue, yet he holds himself back; he hasn’t been through what the man before them has.

hyunjin clears his throat. “is it possible to, like, get some shut-eye first? i’m sorry if that’s inappropriate, but i am _ dead _ beat.”

“same here,” jisung chimes inl. “seeing your friend’s blood just pour out of him does things to you, ya know.”

the two witches look to wonpil for confirmation, and the latter nods. “it’s been a long night, and it’ll be even longer tomorrow,” he agrees.

in an instance, hyunjin and jisung make a mad dash to one of the spare bedrooms upstairs on the second floor. seungmin’s positive he hears the exact moment when they both flop onto the bed, the ceiling rumbling under their weight. beside him, felix slinks close to the arm of the sofa and leans his head against it there. only the four of them remain awake, exchanging glances.

chan coughs. “i’m, uh, going to grab blankets for lix,” he says. he immediately stands and rushes out of the room, a breeze stirring up with his passing trail. the guardian narrows his eyes at the witch’s pinking ears, but doesn’t comment on it. instead, he looks to wonpil.

“you said that you didn’t overcome your fear,” seungmin says slowly. “what was it?”

wonpil winces. “it’s a long story,” he begins, “but it’s not what it was, it was _ who_.” there’s a fond smile prickling the corner of his lips, and seungmin notices how hard wonpil resists it from spreading across his face. “someone i fell in love with.”

“and you were scared of her?”

“not her,” wonpil chuckles. “him.”

“oh,” seungmin blinks. “sorry-”

“-nothing to apologise about,” wonpil interrupts. it’s alright.”

seungmin shakes his head. “i don’t understand, though. you were scared of the person you liked?”

“it’s more complex than that, actually,” wonpil replies. “i was twenty-two when i first became a guardian, and whilst i had my home in the town close by, i was friends with the forest dwellers. he was an elf, and we clicked, and i fell in love with him. simple as that. i was scared, though, because how was i supposed to tell my parents that i wanted to give up being a lawyer to stay in the forest? how was i supposed to love him openly? i think my hugest fear wasn’t him.” he gulps down his tea, before setting the cup down again. “i believe my hugest fear was loving someone so much but not knowing what to do; i was unsure of myself and everything around me. plus, i don’t think he loved me back the same. and plus, he did die in the war.”

seungmin feels his heart sink to his feet. “i’m sorry,” he mumbles. 

wonpil nods. he peers at him first, then changbin, then back to seungmin. “the miranda is merciless. they make you face the things you never wanted to confront. i’ve lived ninety-nine years as a dog but i can still feel that moment when i had to kill him off.” he stretches out his legs, and his eyelashes begin to flutter close. “i’ll tell you more later, young guardian, but for now, i’m dog tired.”

seungmin doesn’t have any energy left in him to laugh at the man’s joke. when hears a soft snore, he sighs and scrambles to his feet. 

“wait, where are you going?” changbin asks. 

“heading out,” seungmin mutters. too much is whirling in his head. a hurricane so forceful, so impenetrable, and it doesn’t die down; no, it grows, stronger and stronger, aching against the bone of his skull. “i won’t stray far, just. i just need some fresh air.”

and changbin knows better, and lets him. seungmin makes a mental note to thank him later, before he pushes the door and trudges out of the witch’s coven.

☽

outside, the warmth of the sunshine falls on his skin. dressed in a clean white shirt and jeans borrowed from chan, seungmin inhales deeply. the scent of dew and greenery fills his lungs. after walking for a few minutes, he pauses at a boulder and settles down, not caring about the rough crevices catching onto the fabric of his clothes. he lies down on his back and closes his eyes, throws an arm over them to block out the light seeping through the closed slits.

nothing makes sense. for once, seungmin feels very, very dumbfounded. how is he supposed to defeat a beast that’s supposed to be some nightmare of a monster? he presses his lips together into a thin line and silently begs for unconsciousness to wash over him again.

somewhere in the distance, a pair of footsteps near him, dried leaves crunching under heavy boots, a scraping of a cape against the ground. “seungmin.”

seungmin recognises the voice instantly. “did you have to follow me out here?” he snaps.

he hears changbin’s footsteps stop. “sorry,” changbin replies. “wanted to check on you, and… you’re right, i’m sorry, you said you just needed fresh air. i’ll head back now.”

when seungmin realises that the apprentice is for real, seungmin fumbles to sit upright. “no, changbin.” he exhales shakily. “i’m not in the place to snap at you like that.”

changbin smiles softly at him. quietly, he trudges over to seungmin and finds a place on the boulder the guardian’s sitting on. seungmin licks his lips, trying to find the right words to piece together. “you’re just looking out for me, i get it,” he says. “besides, you saved me yesterday. i’m sorry.”

changbin presses his palms against the rock to lift himself up higher on the boulder. “no worries, kid,” he says. “there’s nothing to apologise, anyways. you saved our asses before. i’m simply returning the favour.”

seungmin places a hand on his bandaged arm. his fingers brush over the wrapped wound, and winces at the throbbing pain. “how bad was the wound?”

the apprentice laughs. “best not to describe it,” he replies, which makes seungmin crack up a little. when they’re both giggling, changbin subconsciously brushes the hair out of seungmin’s eyes. his fingers are light and delicate, and warm. seungmin relishes in his touch. 

a lot of things can happen in a few days. seungmin’s known changbin for less than a week, and yet he can feel a part of him opening up to the witch’s apprentice, short, grumpy, annoying, irritable, but soft, kind-hearted, and wise. it’s funny how all those can fit in a sentence, together.

but they do.

changbin’s hand falls to his side as their laughter fades away. “i was pretty scared, not gonna lie,” changbin admits. “you didn’t budge at all when chan and i were mending your wound. i thought you were dead.”

“it takes a lot to kill me,” seungmin proclaims. “well, at least i think so.”

“you survived an ogre,” changbin points out, “and goblins, and a dragon, and a serpent. i think you’re alright, kid.”

laughter bubbles and rises up seungmin’s throat. for once, he’s not afraid to let down his inhibitions and smile in front of the apprentice. he wonders when that even began to occur. “you’re the one who saved me from that serpent and still managed to get out of there without a scratch,” seungmin protests.

changbin rolls his eyes, but he doesn’t fight off the smirk on his lips. “well, you know, some magic here and there,” he says nonchalantly. seungmin giggles. just as he does, his phone buzzes again.

seungmin fishes his pocket for his phone and slides it out. curiously, changbin leans over his shoulder, breath hot over the shell of seungmin’s ear. “remarkable,” the apprentice muses aloud. “a device to communicate to people over yards of land. we use pigeons. or magic.”

the notification banner blips, and seungmin swipes across his phone screen. 

**jeongin:** hey! 

**jeongin:** sorry if im being abrupt buuuuuut

**jeongin:** wanna hang out today? :D

**jeongin:** there’s this really cool arcade place! n a cinema close by too

“who’s that?” changbin questions. seungmin can’t help but recognise a tinge of accusation in his tone when he speaks.

“a friend i met yesterday,” seungmin answers curtly. it’s tough to believe that before everything that happened yesterday, he somehow got himself a cute boy’s number at a coffee shop. even with less than twenty-four hours separating those moments, it feels like an eternity since seungmin last stepped into that coffee shop and landed his eyes on the perky cashier boy. 

“oh,” changbin glances away. “are you seeing him?”

“what?”

seungmin stares at changbin warily, and narrows his eyes. “what do you mean by that?”

the moment is dragged out long and weary, until the other finally turns back and gazes at seungmin. his brown eyes are hard, steely. “is he more than a friend?”

to be frank, seungmin’s taken aback. he furrows his eyebrows. “no, he’s not.”

“i saw that smile when you saw the message,” changbin sniffs. “no person who’s not interested in another smiles like that, and i know that well.”

seungmin sighs. _ this _ is what is riling changbin up? “you’ve got to be kidding me,” seungmin huffs. “what, are you jealous, changbin ah?”

“that’s hyung to you,” changbin admonishes, but his gaze is averted elsewhere. crimson red warmth speckles his cheeks, then his ears. and when he avoids the question, seungmin knows, and flushes deeply as well. 

when seungmin doesn’t say anything, the apprentice groans. “yes, so i was overly worried about you and decided to come out looking for you. yes, i’m sitting here so i can spend more time with you. and yes, i _ am _ jealous; i’m a goddamned green-eyed monster. and yes, i know it’s only been, what, three days of knowing you? and i know i sound stupid and pathetic and i wanted to pick a fight with you since the moment i saw you, but that’s that.” changbin sighs. he curls his hands into fists and places them on his lap, chin down. 

no one, in fact _ no one _, has ever left seungmin as speechless as he is now. not any ogre, or dragon, or serpent, or pixie, or fairy. not even jeongin. seungmin’s eyes widen as the words fall on his ears, and his brain interprets them immediately into a caps lock sentence: HE LIKES YOU DUMBASS NOW WHAT ARE YOU GONNA SAY BACK HUH.

“y’know,” changbin whispers, “this is the part where you get disgusted and throw me off of this rock and walk away.”

his brain slams the keyboard. SAY SOMETHING SAY SOMETHING SAY SOMETHING- “why would i?”

changbin shrugs. “because you don’t feel the same way back? because i caught on feelings too fast? because morgana was right all along?” at last, he musters whatever courage he has left in him to glimpse up at a stunned seungmin. “if i hadn’t just said all that, i would take a picture of your face, seungmin ah.”

the guardian parts his lips to say something, but no sound emerges. all that comes out is a feeble “ummmmmm…”

changbin slides off of the boulder. “well,” he says. “i apologise for that. i’m sorry, it’s just, you know, seeing you on the verge of dying that told me that i actually do care for you, and told me that i have been all this time, ever since you showed up at our doorstep looking beaten up but still so strong. and i know it’s happening so fast, but like everyone says, i fall too fast and that goes the same for you but this time it’s just even faster-”

“-changbin hyung,” seungmin cuts him off. surprised, the apprentice clamps his mouth shut. seungmin slides off of the rock as well and walks closer to changbin. his brain headbangs all the words in his mind now. WHAT ARE YOU DOING ARE YOU INSANE. “you ramble too much.”

“yeah,” changbin bounces on the balls of his toes, and seungmin almost has to look away before dying of cuteness. because changbin, though he looks rough and tough and can throw a mighty punch, has a heart of gold and is witty and annoying and terribly good-looking. WAIT ARE YOU ACTUALLY GOING TO- “yeah, i do that when i’m nervous.”

STOP LEANING CLOSER KIM SEUNGMIN WHAT ARE YOU DOING- “guess what?” seungmin grins like a chesire cat and places a hand on changbin’s shoulder. here, he’s taller than changbin by a good few inches, but changbin’s broader than him, a safe sentry guarding over him. “i’m nervous too.”

and with that, with every little ounce of energy left in him, he brushes his lips lightly against changbin’s. 

it’s considerably different from when he kissed other people. it’s considerably different, because he’s never shut down the voices in his head like this before. because he’s never held someone like this before, gentle, yet firm, yet soothing all the same. because he’s never kissed someone he’s spent half his time with arguing and finding flowers and fighting with. because he’s never kissed someone that was changbin ever before this. because he’s never kissed changbin before.

it’s considerably different, and whilst seungmin hates different, he likes changbin.

when they pull back, seungmin thinks he sees stars dotted in changbin’s eyes. “was that real or was that one of those hallucinating thingies i hear chan gets sometimes?” the apprentice asks, dazed. 

seungmin clicks his tongue and leans in again. this time, changbin moves, hands reaching out to cup the apple of seungmin’s cheeks. his fingers curl around his cheekbones and rest, grazing his earlobes and tickling the hair on his sides. seungmin giggles into the kiss, still shy, still exploring. they don’t say a word when they lean back this time, and instead focus on how bright the other’s eyes glisten under the mid-morning sunshine.

eventually, changbin’s hands slide down to seungmin’s shoulders, past the sides of his body before being placed limply on his narrow hips. “that was… wow.”

“a man of many words, i see,” seungmin jokes. that earns him a jab in the rib, and seungmin yowls. “oh, you’re _ so _ going to get it.”

seungmin waves his arm in the air, and before changbin knows it, a heap of leaves from the willow tree overhead comes rushing down on changbin before fluttering to the ground. the apprentice gasps in shock, but his eyes are bright and amused, before he tackles seungmin to the ground (while, of course, maintaining a hand on seungmin’s upper arm to ease the fall - he can’t have the one he likes hurt once more because of him.)

☽

when they arrive back at the cottage, changbin creaks the door open ajar. a loud snore drifts through the air, and the two boys have to stifle their laughter.

admittedly, seungmin’s surprised to see felix asleep, with chan spooning him on the pull-out couch, arms encircling his waist. the starry blanket’s kicked off and draped over their legs now. seungmin raises an eyebrow when he realises chan’s head is resting on felix’s narrow shoulder. “i never took chan as being the big spoon,” he comments lightly.

awake now, wonpil shrugs as he takes a bite out of his cookie. “i knew it the second i saw him. exudes the biggest spooning vibes,” he says around garbled words and flying biscuit crumbs. he covers his mouth modestly and swallows. “where did y’all go?”

“out,” both of them chirp in unison. they exchange knowing glances, cracking up.

wonpil eyes the both of them warily. “sureee,” he drawls. “anyways. i was supposed to tell you about the miranda, yes?”

“yeah,” seungmin nods jerkily. he finds an empty spot on the couch after kicking chan’s outstretched leg away. in response, the witch snorts in his sleep. changbin settles down beside him too, before sneaking a hand on the small of seungmin’s back. seungmin doesn’t think he’ll get quite used to this. “here’s the thing: how do we know when they’re coming? what will they go after? is there some sort of way we can strike them properly?”

wonpil clasps his hands together on his lap and sighs. “look, kid. the underdwelling creatures that emerge? the dragons, the serpents, the ogres, everything? they’re simply the distraction,” he explains. “what they’re really going after is your amulet. in other words, they’re going after you.

“at that time, i didn’t have a gang of buddies to help fight and protect the forest. i was all alone. when the miranda came after me, i didn’t even realise it was them. it was simply him.” he chuckles humourlessly, before allowing his eyes to fall to his hands. “at least, i _ thought _ it was him, until he spoke. there was grit to his words, and he got under my nerves. the miranda simply knows your weaknesses, and use them to their advantage. when you’re at your weakest, they strike.” 

a sort of dread pools in his stomach. seungmin feels himself begin to panic, but changbin’s thumb keeps drawing comforting circles on his back; though miniscule, significantly warm. “do we have some sort of strategy figured out for this, or…?”

“that’s what i was thinking of,” wonpil nods. “your friends need to fight the underdwellers. they’ll rip the forest up into pieces. imagine your past three days of creatures, but combined, and amp the force of destruction up by ten times. that’s doomsday tomorrow for you.”

seungmin feels the hand on his back freeze. “wonpil…” changbin says hesitantly. “can i ask you something?”

“yeah?”

seungmin watches the outline of his adam’s apple bob up and down. “what if what happened a hundred years ago happens again?”

wonpil purses his lips together. “that happened because i hadn’t perfected the curse spell. i was still missing a few elements then, and i was caught up all alone, fighting the entire fleet of underdwellers. believe it or not, as a dog, i actually managed to figure out the last few words of the spell. the problem is, i’m not entirely sure if it’ll work.”

“i’ll have to recite it, right?” seungmin points out. “seeing as i’m the one with the amulet.”

“right,” wonpil replies. “there’s a risk that follows the curse, of course. and i am deeply regretful that i myself am unsure of the consequences that will be brought about with ending this once and for all.” his eyes shift to chan and felix bundled up together, felix’s soft snores punctuated by chan’s heavier breathing. seungmin watches wonpil's eyes glaze over, never once leaving the two boys’ faces. “i wish we didn’t have to end it this way, either,” he whispers.

☽

once everyone is awake at around 3 p.m, seungmin and changbin have already cooked up a late lunch of bibimbap for everyone. his three friends had rejoiced happily at the sight of the feast on the coffee table. chan had been pleasantly surprised by the delicacy, and wonpil… well, seungmin had never seen wonpil so happy before.

“i miss this so, so much,” wonpil says, before taking up another mouthful of rice. “how’d you make it?”

“well… changbin found the ingredients, and i made my mum’s recipe,” seungmin says shyly. 

jisung throws two thumbs-up at his friend. “this is soooo good. man, i love you, seungminnie ah!” he singsongs at the top of his lungs. seungmin laughs, leaning back on the kitchen island and watching his friends wolf down his food. he hasn’t cooked in ages, what with the half-eaten dinners before night-watching for the past few months. 

seungmin’s about to join the group when he feels someone tug at his sleeve. the apprentice looks at seungmin, expressionless. “can we talk?”

puzzled, seungmin nods. wordlessly, changbin drags the younger into the hallway and closes the sitting room doorway. the voices outside are drowned out almost completely, sheltering the two boys away from their friends. seungmin leans back against the plaster wall. “what did you want to talk about?”

changbin chews on his lower lip. “are you okay?”

seungmin blinks. “well, yeah, my wound’s actually feeling better now, and-”

“-we both know that i wasn’t referring to your wound.” changbin looks at seungmin and sighs. “i saw your face when wonpil was explaining earlier. you looked like a beast was about to eat you whole. like you were trapped in its jaws already.”

“was i that obvious?” seungmin asks quietly. 

changbin smiles sadly. his face instantly softens, and it reminds seungmin of clouds. dark and roaring when the thunder rolls around, but soft and bright when the worst of the storm is over. “kinda,” changbin chuckles. “you’re not very good at hiding your emotions.”

seungmin flushes. they remain silent, both their backs leaning against opposite walls, until changbin steps forward. seungmin’s mind doesn’t seem to register anything until changbin’s close enough, close enough to pull seungmin forward with the tug of a shirt, close enough to wrap his arms around seungmin, close enough to bury his head into the nape of seungmin’s breath and exhale, breath shaky against seungmin’s skin. 

he finds it comforting, until he hears a loud sniffle. stunned, seungmin tips changbin’s head up with his finger on his chin, and gasps. “changbin hyung, why’re you crying?” seungmin asks. panic rises in his chest as he grips changbin closer to him. “i’m the one who’s supposed to be crying!”

changbin laughs, a pained look on his face. “i can’t imagine it,” he mutters. “i don’t know how wonpil went through that. went through seeing everyone he cared for disappear into nothing. went through seeing every year pass by as a goddamned _ dog_. a dog, seungmin! he spent ninety-nine years living as a dog!”

“hey, dogs are cool!”

“... not what i meant, minnie.”

“oh.”

moments tick by with changbin sniffling into seungmin’s shoulder, arms holding him tight in his grip. “are you sure you’re alright to fight tomorrow?” changbin whispers into the shell of his ear - a secret shared between the both of them, that only the both of them will live to hear. and seungmin’s heart breaks a little. he’s never heard changbin cry before, let alone sound so helpless. “are you sure you’ll be okay with whatever that’ll be thrown at you?”

“you want me to be honest?”

he feels changbin nod. 

seungmin blinks and tilts his head upwards to the ceiling. he’s never been so unsure of what to do. everything, from the day he’d heard the amulet calling for his name, to the day he’d woken up with the amulet pinned onto his shirt; from the day he’d battled his first monster alongside his three friends, to the day they’d first been captured by the fae; from the day they’d escaped from the hands of a troll to the day they’d met chan, and changbin, and wonpil, and everyone else in between.

everything: he’d been unsure of everything. 

“i don’t know what i’m doing anymore,” seungmin replies. “everything i’ve done so far seems to be right, but yesterday night was… that was probably the end of my lucky streak, huh? if it weren’t for you, i’d be dead meat by now.”

wiping the last of his tears with the back of his sleeve, changbin places a hand delicately upon seungmin’s cheekbone. “never have you once doubted me in these past three days, seung,” he murmurs. he presses a kiss on the boy’s forehead, nose, cheek, the corner of his mouth. “but i want you to be okay, to be alright with this. i don’t want you to do this for the sake of the guardian’s role. i want you to do this because you _ want _ to, and you’re _ ready _ to.”

“i’m not ready to,” seungmin admits. “but i want to. i want to fight, and protect the people here.”

changbin closes the gap between them and kisses seungmin on the mouth. the taste of him is addicting, neither sweet nor salty, but tangy and mellow, drawn out, a wisp of warmth in the coldest winter evenings. they kiss long and torrid like a last goodbye, before leaning back for seungmin to brush the last tear escaping from the corner of changbin’s eye.

“my brave fighter,” changbin whispers. “you know, i still find it stupid of me to fall for you on the first day.”

“well, me too-”

“-hear me out,” changbin interrupts. “i find it stupid, because you wanted to protect the person who hurt me the most in the past. yet, even though i was so livid that you stopped me, you didn’t try and fight me. all you did was help morgana back up to her feet, and get an apology out of her.” changbin chuckles. “i find it stupid, but i understand it so well.”

“why?”

“i’m drawn to boys who don’t know what the flying fuck they’re doing all the time, but they still do whatever it is they’re doing perfectly well.”

☽

**jeongin:** so whaddya think? :D 

**me:** hey jeongin, sorry but i’ll be busy with something important.

**me:** and admittedly, i’m not interested

**me:** i’m sorry. hope you understand

**jeongin:** of course hyung. fighting!

☽

when night falls, chan chants a spell, and four sleeping bags materialise on the cushy floor of the sitting room. “in case they attack at midnight, we’ll be ready,” he says with a sad sort of smile. who can be happy, when the entire forest’s lives are in their hands?

the aroma of homemade bulgogi and rice immediately sends jisung sniffling and sobbing into hyunjin’s arms. seungmin looks at them, and on other days, he’d laugh and make a joke, something along the lines of _ oh, jisungie, you crybaby! _ today isn’t one of those days.

changbin ruffles jisung’s hair as he sets dinner down on the coffee table, but he doesn’t make a move to say anything. hyunjin holds jisung close enough for them to merge into one. it instantly reminds seungmin of the moment he’d found the both of them trapped in the dungeons of the fae’s dwelling, both curled up in each other’s arms with dried tears on their cheeks. back then, they’d been sworn enemies; now, it’s different. so, so different.

they eventually dig in. seungmin pokes and prods at his dinner, appetite gone, and instead excuses himself and heads outside. he half-expects changbin to follow him out, but the look on changbin’s face seems to say otherwise, as if he knows he wants to be alone for a while.

outside, night has fallen. the stars are brighter than ever across the expanse of the night sky, not a cloud in sight. seungmin heaves a sigh and tilts his head upwards, takes a whiff of the forestry. he leans back on the hammock that chan and changbin have on the porch. his eyes are fixated on the dark blanket overhead, as if searching for something.

he hadn’t made a move to head home and talk to his family. what’s he supposed to say? _ eomma, appa, i might turn into a dog tomorrow. or worse, get killed. can we have dinner now? _the more seungmin thinks up of something to say to them, the more he misses them. he hates making his parents worried about him and his whereabouts, and when his mum or dad walks into his bedroom tomorrow with an empty bed and no seungmin in sight, he can’t imagine the defeated looks on their faces.

his eyelashes flutter shut on their account. darkness pools, and reminds him of yesterday. trapped in that deadly void, with nowhere to run. he opens his eyes again, and the moonlight shines through. he releases a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been keeping until now, shaky and stuttering.

sometimes, seungmin wonders if he hadn’t picked up that amulet months ago, would things have been different? would he have been as close to hyunjin and jisung and felix as he is now? would he have ever stumbled across the witch’s coven during a walk through the forest? sometimes, seungmin wonders if he’d made the right choices at all.

seungmin licks his dried lips and places a finger on them, grazing the cracks of skin. as he peers down, he catches sight of the glowing amulet. he unpins it from his shirt with a short _ click! _and examines the metal orb. he turns it in his hands, quietly examining every etch and curve of it.

“i made it myself, you know,” wonpil suddenly says. startled, seungmin jumps in his seat to find wonpil by the doorway, arms folded over his chest. he tilts his head and smiles sheepishly. “sorry,” he apologises.

“no worries,” seungmin murmurs. he looks down at the amulet, his fingers tracing over the engraved arrows. 

wonpil settles into the empty spot beside him on the hammock and hums. “it was a gift to me from my father, the very centrepiece of the orb,” he explains wistfully. “i asked him where he bought it from, but he didn’t reply. it was as if he knew of the existence of this very forest way before i have. maybe i’m the first guardian, but i’m certainly not the first human to have come across it.”

seungmin nods slowly. his hand falls to his lap, the amulet glowing against his thigh. “how did you know why they’re called the miranda?” he asks softly.

“they whisper their name when they’re close to you,” wonpil replies. “whilst i myself don’t know what exactly the centrepiece is, the miranda are keen to have their hands on it. i can only imagine the hell that would break loose if they managed to get this amulet in their hands.” he rubs his knuckles with the pad of his thumb, as if easing himself. “when they came close to me in his form, they would whisper _ the miranda, the miranda _, like some sort of deranged mantra.”

seungmin swallows thickly. “i don’t know if i’m up to it tomorrow,” he finally says, the weight on his shoulders pressing down too hard. “i want to protect the forest, i really do. but i’ve only been protecting this place for, what, a few months? it hasn’t even been a year.” he laughs dryly. “four days ago, i didn’t have the slightest clue as to what i was going to go up against.”

wonpil shrugs. “shit happens,” he says. “and it hurts as hell a lot of times. you’re pretty young to handle all this, so i’m really proud of you, seungmin ah.” he smiles gently, the corners of his lips turned upwards prettily. “you forget that i see you sneak back into your room every day at 4am? that i see you duck out the window after dinner every day? i see you, and honestly, i see you as someone really strong, and really brave.”

and for the first time in a long time, seungmin feels tears prickle the back of his eyes. he tilts his head upwards, trying hard to blink them away. “ahhhhh,” he whines, rubbing at his eyes. wonpil laughs warmly beside him, and places a hand on his back to comfort him.

“it must be a lot,” wonpil sighs. “but i think you’re blessed with your three friends. they’re really incredible, too.”

“yeah,” seungmin says. he feels a pang in his heart, remembering how his friends have been so supportive in the past few days, and even risked their lives to save him, save the forest. felix, wounded by the greater goblins. hyunjin, risking death by teleporting him onto the dragon. jisung, still as energetic and bubbly as ever despite any chaotic situation thrown at him. 

seungmin really is blessed with the best.

the door creaks open ajar, and both of them turn heads to see jisung stumbling out of the cottage with a yowl. he steadies himself, before glaring at felix, who giggles unapologetically. “you pushed me!” he accuses.

“did not,” felix shoots back. “you just lost your balance.”

“i hate to admit it, babe,” hyunjin chuckles, “but i have to agree with lix here.”

jisung rolls his eyes, before turning his attention to seungmin. “so we decided to check up on you,” he begins slowly. “and we just wanna say that, y’know, no matter what happens tomorrow, we’re gonna stick by your side forever, alright?”

hyunjin seems to wipe tears from his eyes, and felix smiles probably the widest smile he’s ever shown off at seungmin. in an instance, all three of them pounce onto seungmin with their arms wide open. seungmin yelps, but doesn’t fight off his three friends hugging him, crushing his every bone. “wait, truce! his arm’s injured!” felix reminds them, and they immediately loosen their hold on seungmin.

he buries his head into the felix’s shoulder, laughing silently. and when he peers up from the embrace, he sees chan and changbin by the door. chan shows off a thumbs-up, and changbin grins at him, his eyes soft and glimmering. seungmin turns to wonpil, who chuckles and pats his back. 

sometimes, seungmin wonders if he’d made the right choices at all. right now, however, he just _ knows _ that all the choices, up until now, were right all the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> phew another 8k words down :")) we're almost at the end! thank you for patiently waiting for this update. the next chapter is going to take even longer to write (many, many details) but i promise i'll try and get this done before christmas!


	5. this is who we really are

seungmin jolts awake at the sound of thunder clapping outside. he scrambles to his feet, eyes bleary as he tries to make out his other friends, already awake. jisung rubs his eyes and blinks back at seungmin. his eyes are wide, and the words he wants to say are splayed there in his darkened irises. _they’re here. _

a bolt of lightning blazes across the sky outside. all seven of them run to the windows and peer out of the drawn blinds. the hammock outside creaks with the rush of the wind howling in the distance. the raindrops pelt down, hard, against the roof of the cottage. they all exchange knowing looks, and seungmin feels his heart drop to his socked feet.

this is the beginning of the end.

☽

“you got your staff, hyunjin?” seungmin asks as he slips on a shirt. hyunjin yells back a “yes!” as he jumps into a pair of jeans. “felix, got your arrows? your bow?” a nod. “jisung, your webs working alright?” there’s a whiz through the air as a glob of webbing hits a cookie on the table, and the cookie fizzes and disintegrates into thin air. 

as seungmin pins his amulet on, he catches chan and changbin’s eyes. chan shrugs his cloak on and slips his wand into his sleeve. changbin does as well, and nods at seungmin, as if to say, _ carry on, seungmin ah. _

from behind him, wonpil places a hand on seungmin’s shoulder and squeezes. “c’mon,” he says. “let’s get this monster and end it. once, and for all.”

☽

even at ten in the morning, the sun has disappeared, smothered over by thunderous dark clouds enveloping the entire forest. the rain drenches seungmin to the bone the second he steps outside, but a simple cold is the least of his worries now. his amulet blazes blue, illuminating their way down the winding path into the thicket of swaying trees. “everyone alright?” he hollers behind his shoulder. 

a chorus of yes’s rise from the group. seungmin turns his head back around and squints into the distance. the storm blocks his clear vision of the pathway ahead of them, and the fog seems even thicker than it was the night they visited the pixies. chan casts a spell, a strong one in latin, but the fog seems as dense as it was moments ago.

chan shakes his head. “it’s gotta be the miranda’s work,” he says. “they’re trying to distract us.”

as they trudge deeper into the forest, their jeans and pants get soaked with mud up to the very knee. seungmin desperately does his best to ignore the sticky feeling of his jean material clinging to his thighs. as he hops over a boulder, the ground beneath them shudders. they yell as the muddy ground rumbles intensely, sending them sailing to their backsides. seungmin curses as he lands on his bum.

“i think i broke my tailbone!” jisung groans aloud, rubbing at his sore end.

wonpil steadies himself on the trunk of a tree. his eyes reach out far into the forest, beyond the hanging branches and overgrown bushes. “ogres,” he breathes. “those are definitely ogres. and wow, they look way bigger than when i first met them-”

he’s cut off when a roar resounds throughout the forest. a flock of birds resting on a branch overhead screech as they fly away, taking cover. in an instance, all of them jump into action: the witches with their wands, hyunjin with his staff, jisung removing his gloves, and felix with his arrow poised in the direction of the roar. they stare into the distance, awaiting the offenders’ arrival, but nothing comes.

“i swear i saw them,” wonpil protests. “they were right there.”

felix swivels around and screams. seungmin snaps his head back in time to see a gargantuan figure looming over wonpil. wonpil ducks down in time as an arrow streaks across the air and lands square in the ogre’s chest. the creature, made of moss-covered rock and sullen crevices for eyes, roars louder, angrier, and swings an arm out at felix. 

and thus, all hell breaks loose.

a barrage of arrows shoots at the army of ogres stomping towards them. seungmin shouts as he forcefully swings an arm to one side. in a blink of an eye, four of them are wiped out, thrown to the ground and smash into a thousand rock fragments.

“behind you, seungmin! goblins!” 

seungmin snarls as he makes a sharp 180° turn, in time for a greater goblin to pounce onto his arm. the grey, scaly monster shows off its glistening fangs, venom pouring from the tips. as the goblin hurls itself downwards onto seungmin’s arm, it’s sucked up into a black hole, sent hurtling back to where it belonged. seungmin shoots hyunjin a brief grin before turning his attention back to the oncoming attackers.

from above, a defiant growl reverberates throughout the forest. seungmin’s mind races as he sends a few goblins flying across the ground up against the tree trunks, their blood splattering everywhere. _ every greater creature is being released, _ seungmin gulps. _ how long can i hold them off for before the miranda arrives? _

without any warning, a nearby tree explodes into fire, ashes and twigs flung into the air. seungmin glances up momentarily to spot not one, but _ two _ dragons hovering above their heads. within a span of a few seconds, the trees encircling them have burst into smouldering flames. waves of heat emanate from the raging fires. the flames lick the ground, lapping every inch up, closer and closer and unintelligibly closer to the group of seven.

as jisung shoots another web at a nearby greater goblin, he heaves heavily. “there’s no way we can fend off all of them!” he cries in disbelief. his face has gone impossibly red from the lack of oxygen. 

“do your best,” seungmin insists. he shakes a goblin off of his boot and hurtles another into the air. he pants, trying to catch his breath, but the stuffy air fills his lungs and chokes him alive. he watches as an army of trolls marches through the trees, growling low and loud. loud screams and sounds of the zaps of the witches’ magic rise above the din of the crackling fire. seungmin coughs into his sleeve, before raising an arm and choking a goblin reaching out for him.

“look out, min!” changbin warns. too late, and seungmin’s thrown to the ground, tripped by a cunning troll. he watches the stones around its mouth curl into a smirk, and feels rather than sees the hand made of rock pelting down on him. he coughs as he raises a hand insistently, the energy draining out of him fast, too fast. seungmin growls and pushes back against the troll, and without a second’s hesitation, flings it to the ground and into a million stones.

everything happens so fast, too fast. they’re completely outnumbered, despite them being a team of seven; an unfair battle from the very beginning. out of the blue, the tree next to him fractures and crumbles in fizzes of flames. the branches falling singe his hair, but seungmin simply brushes the ashes out of his hair. all his friends are suffering in the smoke, coughing in between tearing down the endless armies of greater creatures. seungmin feels his anger boil in his blood, watching felix’s arm sway whilst aiming, watching hyunjin’s eyes fazed from the energy leaking out of his body, watching jisung shrieking as the goblins inch closer and closer to him…

_ not enough, _ he scolds himself. _ the holder of the amulet, the most powerful weapon here, and it’s still not enough. _

and seungmin starts to scream. 

he squeezes his eyes shut and screams blue murder, louder than the dragon’s roaring, louder than the ogres’ moaning, louder than even the snapping of the burning trees rupturing and coming apart into heaps of ashened remains. he doesn’t think - no, he _ can’t _ think at all, not when he slams both his palms against the blackened tree trunk and _ pushes _.

someone yells his name in the distance, but seungmin doesn’t care. there’s nothing on his mind at all. he can’t think, can’t process the sheer pain of flesh against the burning wood. he screams and pushes against the trunk, because no matter what, no matter how hard he tries, nothing seems to be going right for them at all, until-

all of a sudden, the flames burn out. a deafening _ pop! _ sound shatters the chaos as the fires vanish into thin air. seungmin shoves his entire weight onto the tree, howling from the wood digging into the skin of his palms. he pushes harder, until every last flame dies and diminishes, until every last tree disintegrates into dust and black ashes, until every last one of his friends can breathe once again.

seungmin wrenches his eyes open and gasps. he lurches backwards, his knees weak and wobbling, and is instantly caught by the apprentice right behind him. 

“seung,” changbin murmurs. he helps seungmin back up his feet, eyes wide with concern. “dude, what the hell was that?”

even the greater creatures have slowed down momentarily, all shocked by the spectacle before their very eyes, and thus giving the guardians a greater advantage. in a flash, hyunjin easily surps an entire army of goblins back to the cavum with a simple push from the witch.

seungmin blinks. dazed, he stares down at his trembling hands. the skin of his palms are unharmed, as if he hadn’t touched the fires at all. smooth, and delicate, not a single burn in sight. “i don’t understand,” he says hazily, his mind too stuffed with cotton to process anything. “how did i put the fires out?”

changbin shakes his head. dumbfounded, he tangles his fingers in seungmin’s hair, laughing out of hysteria. “we’ll figure that out later. right now, let’s get moving.”

somewhere in the distance, the band of guardians hear a flurry of movement. seungmin stands up straighter, snapping back to reality as he awaits the next wave of offenders. to his pleasant surprise, an entire fleet of fae reveal themselves from behind the tree trunks, their wings fluttering quickly and timidly. he’s even more surprised to find morgana at the forefront of the fae, her smile gentle, her eyes warm and welcoming.

beside him, changbin freezes. “what’s going on?” he asks.

morgana tips her head back and laughs. her hair is soaked in the rain, and she flips her drenched hair back with a casual flick of her wrist. “what does it look like? we’re here to help. believe me, i wouldn’t have believed that jokester of a pixie unless he’d mentioned your names.” she turns to the other fae and nods. in a blur of long dresses and flapping wings, every single one of the fae surge forwards, attacking the oncoming beasts. several of them shoot straight up to the sky, where one of the dragons soars overhead, unbeknownst of the incoming intruders.

seungmin’s eyes flit back to morgana’s. “thank you,” he says.

“no, thank _ you _,” morgana grins. she exchanges a knowing look between the guardian and the apprentice. “i’d like to add that us fae actually watched the fires completely die down from afar. very impressive. and,” she turns to changbin with a raised eyebrow, “it hasn’t even been a week since you’ve met the guardian, has it, binnie?”

changbin’s face reddens. “i can explain-”

“-changbin, you’ve never changed,” morgana snickers, before taking to the skies. she throws one last attack down at changbin from her shoulder, “you fall much too fast, my dear!”

and with the help of the fae, the battle goes much more smoothly. perhaps having two hundred fairies hurling glitter at demonic monsters isn’t the coolest way for a war to go down in history, but it’s certainly effective - the sparkles blind the offenders, and send them fumbling straight into the guardians’ traps. hyunjin even lets out a victorious whoop when he opens up a portal, sending off a dozen or more trolls back to their homeland with a triumphant beam.

reenergised, the battle goes much more favourably for the guardians. seungmin sends creature after creature smashing against the grounds. his footsteps are still shaky, but his mind is sharp enough to process everything happening around him. roars and screams and shouts vibrate in his ears, everything before his eyes a blur of legs and arms and weaponry. 

they lose track of time. seungmin’s probably sent his eightieth goblin hurtling against a tree, and yet, there’s no sign of the miranda. _ weird _ , he thinks. he stomps down on the tail of a slithering snake subconsciously, still lost in his thoughts. _ i thought they would’ve come by now, wouldn’t they?... _

the long wait drags on. even with their larger forces now, seungmin notices how exhausted the others are. felix’s arm trembles violently as he reaches back for another arrow, aiming briefly before firing at the dragon’s underside. beside him, chan chants spells at charging ogres, his voice hoarse from shouting his spells. 

seungmin blinks hard, trying to ward off the lethargy settling in his muscles. he stares up at the twin dragons, encircling the group of guardians from above, like vultures awaiting impatiently to swoop down on their prey. nearby, hyunjin seems to notice seungmin’s gaze on the two creatures overhead. he hesitates, before asking, “i know it’s a bad time to ask this, but do you want me to transport you up there?”

seungmin’s eyes flit to hyunjin’s tired ones. wet strands of hair are matted across his forehead. he’s pale from every ounce of energy drawn from his body into generating power for the black holes. “no way,” seungmin shakes his head. “you’re only gonna harm yourself.”

“i can try-”

“-hyunjin,” seungmin cuts him off. “the fae will take care of the dragons.”

“the dragons will just keep burning the forest alive,” hyunjin protests. he raises his staff at seungmin, the diamond tip glistening even in the rain. 

seungmin tries to avoid hyunjin’s line of vision. “no,” he insists. “no, hyunjin. don’t do it. stop thinking about me, and think about yourself! you’re exhausted already; you’re only gonna kill yourself!”

hyunjin smiles weakly. “i don’t know about that,” he says. his eyes are wet. seungmin can’t be sure if it’s from the rain, or his tears. “but what i do know is that you can do it, seungmin.”

seungmin’s eyes widen when he feels himself pitch backwards - down, down, _ down _. the last thing he sees are hyunjin’s weary eyes, his eyelashes fluttering before closing against his pale, drenched skin. his mouth forms a silent scream, his arm reaching out to escape the black hole-

-and all is darkness.

☽

it’s like submerging underwater. all the sounds, the harsh pitter-patter of the rain against his skin, the growling of the monstrous beasts tearing at his friends, the sound of his heartbeat racing against his chest, dissolving away. seungmin feels submerged in water, falling deeper and deeper underwater.

and deeper…

☽

… and then he resurfaces.

“fuck!” he curses, groaning at the sudden pain. he lands with an unceremonious thump onto grassy grounds. realisation dawns upon him. he scrambles to his feet, dusting his jeans off. His eyes wander from tree to tree, confusion building up in him. _ where am i? _ the rain falls harder against his back, but his friends are nowhere to be seen. he hears monsters somewhere in the distance, far away. seungmin’s brain racks for some sort of explanation. _ maybe hyunjin lost consciousness, _ he thinks. _ maybe his magic wore off, and that’s why i’m here and not on the dragons’ backs, and- _

a low thrum buzzes in the air.

seungmin’s ears perk up at the noise. at first, it starts slow, stately. a kind of unpreceded static noise buzzing in the air, almost too soft to hear. with every passing moment, the noise picks up. the noise amplifies itself, louder and louder, until it rattles in seungmin’s head. he clutches his head, the front of it throbbing from the sudden noise. 

he squeezes his eyes shut. his ears burn with the noise, as if dowsing him in fire and burning him alive. seungmin gasps, forcing his eyes open to land on his amulet, glowing a deep crimson red. his heart bangs against his chest, adrenaline instantly shot into his veins. 

with his hand gripping his head, seungmin totters forward. his footsteps falter with every step, too blinded by the noise whirring in his eardrums. he stumbles over tumbling weeds and mossy rocks, his boots crunching under drenched, dead tree leaves. unconsciously, seungmin’s drawn to the source of the noise, like a moth lured closer to a flame. his tongue hangs heavy, dry in his mouth, too dry to even part his mouth open and tell himself to _ run away. _

as he emerges from behind the branch of a slanting willow tree, the buzzing stops. seungmin blinks several times. his ears ring from the abrupt absence of the noise. he rubs his forehead to rid himself of the growing headache, and peers up slowly

to see, well. himself.

seungmin rubs his knuckles over his eyes furiously. “what the hell?” he says aloud. he squints at his other self, staring back at him. in the centre of a clearing in the woods stands another seungmin, drenched to the bone. he’s wearing the same white tee, the same jeans, the same amulet glowing right back at him. his other self cards a hand through his hair, a slow grin spreading across his face.

“am i hallucinating?” seungmin whispers to himself. his heart aches to tear out of his chest. his clammy palms run down the sides of his jeans to ease himself. 

his other self sighs malevolently. “no, seungmin,” he says, and seungmin feels his heart drop to his boots._ no way. this can’t be happening _. “you certainly aren’t.”

in a blink of an eye, his other self charges towards him. seungmin cries and instinctively flings his other self against a tree. as soon as flesh meets wood, a shot of pain strikes against seungmin’s side, and he doubles over, screaming.

_ fuck, _ seungmin curses. _ this isn’t good. _

his other self stumbles to his feet. his cocky smirk remains plastered across his face. “not so powerful now, huh, seungmin?” he sniggers. “the great human guardian, fallen to his knees, because he couldn’t handle the pain he himself inflicted upon others.” he strides over to seungmin kneeling down on the ground, and sighs. “what a grand pity.”

as soon as the words leave the other’s mouth, seungmin snarls and shoves his own self onto the ground. pain spikes up his spine, but seungmin resists, and shoves a hand against his other self’s chest. he bites down on his lower lip so hard he draws blood, trickling down his chin.

when he stares into the eyes of his other self, something clicks in seungmin’s head. the void. the voice. the body against his own. nothing was different; all felt the same. the same person. his own self. seungmin stares right into his other self’s eyes, those same pools of liquid brown he’d seen in his visions. 

“_you’re _ the miranda,” he breathes shakily. 

the miranda cackles. “took you long enough, dear,” he chuckles, before wincing as seungmin pushes his palm down harder. his energy spills out of his palm, spreading across his chest. seungmin screams as he shoves his weight downwards, the same pain caving into his own chest. 

“but why?” seungmin asks through gritted teeth. “but why is it _ you _?”

the miranda smiles. seungmin wonders if he’s ever smiled like that before - almost genuine, yet cold and sharp at the edges. like he was about to kill someone. “don’t you get it, seungmin?” he says. “your biggest fear is no one, and nothing else, but _ yourself _.” 

seungmin’s grip falters. “i’m afraid of myself?” he asks incredulously.

the miranda rolls his eyes. “please, i can’t stay here all day long going on and on and on about how times you’ve doubted yourself. you’re doubting yourself even now, aren’t you? because you’re just a sad, scared little kid in a guardian’s boots, scared to take the next step, scared to see what happens next-”

“-shut up,” seungmin barks. “don’t you _ dare _ say anything else.”

“but you’re talking to yourself, honey,” the miranda coos. “don’t you think you’re just being hurtful to yourself?”  
wonpil's words echo in his ears. _ the miranda simply knows your weaknesses, and uses them to their advantage. when you’re at your weakest, they strike. _ seungmin tries hard to push himself down even harsher against the miranda. with one hand against his chest, the other hand hangs over the miranda’s throat. seungmin hesitates.

“can’t even choke me because you’re too afraid of your own abilities? sounds about right, doesn’t it?-”

“-i said, shut up!” seungmin shouts. a tear escapes from the corner of his eye from how excruciating the burn against his chest feels. he can feel the ground digging against his back, his own palm sending his chest blazing alive. seungmin sobs, his head hanging low. “i said shut _ up _,” he repeats weakly.

the miranda clicks his tongue several times, feigning disappointment. “aw, is my seungminnie upset he can’t handle his own self? what a fucking weakling, aren’t you? seungmin, look at yourself.” seungmin lifts his head, tears trailing twin rivers down his cheeks. he gazes at himself, his broken look, his sullen eyes. “you’re a pathetic, useless nobody trying to be somebody. you were so ecstatic to take on the role of guardian to have some purpose in your life, and look at you now. weak. deplorable. so think about it. you can throw the amulet away, right now, and all of this will never be your responsibility ever again.” the miranda props himself up on his elbows, and leans closer. “wouldn’t you adore that, seungmin?”

seungmin licks his dried lips. he narrows his eyes at his other self, before snarling, “i will never, _ ever _, do such a thing to my friends.”

seungmin’s hand comes down on the miranda’s throat, but before skin meets skin, the body under him disappears in a flash. seungmin gasps, staring down at raindrops pelting against the muddy ground. he scrambles to his feet and desperately glances around. “come on out!” seungmin yells into the rain. “who’s the coward now, huh?”

seungmin’s thrown off balance, landing on his side with a yowl. “yah!” he shouts. “you think you’re so funny, aren’t you?”

somewhere from the trees up ahead, a figure steps out. seungmin raises his hand, but drops it instantly when he recognises felix walking up to him. confused, seungmin stands to his feet and stares at felix. “lix,” he says. 

felix sighs. “seungmin.”

seungmin shakes his head. “how did you know where i was?”

“doesn’t matter,” felix says. he rushes over to seungmin, and grips his hand. his hand is a vice grip on seungmin’s wrist, digging into his flesh. seungmin winces. “you’ve got to help us, minmin. the dragons multiplied, and we need your help, _ now _. they’re setting fire to the forest again, and-”

“-y’know,” seungmin arches an eyebrow. “i hate it when people call me minmin.”

“okay,” felix nods slowly. seungmin notices the glint in his friend’s eyes, buried deep in his dark irises. “can we get going now-”

“-and,” seungmin adds. he wrangles his wrist out of felix’s grip and poises it over the other’s chest, “felix _ knows _ i hate to be called minmin.”

in a flash, seungmin swings his arm out, sending the miranda hurtling against a tree. seungmin shrieks from the pain and clutches his abdomen. the pain throbs against his skin, his heartbeat escalating as he spots felix conform before his eyes - into hyunjin. seungmin grits his teeth and steadies himself on his feet. he raises an arm again, but the miranda beats him to it - hyunjin charges towards him and slams his back against a nearby tree trunk. seungmin howls.

hyunjin leans closer, laughing against his face. “letting your friend die like that on the battlefield? pathetic,” hyunjin spits. his hand comes around seungmin’s throat, the other hand hovering over his glowing amulet. seungmin struggles, choking as he wrangles himself out of the miranda’s grip on him. “can’t believe you’d do that to a friend.”

and before seungmin can say anything, jisung appears before him. jisung’s hand is tighter, ramming down into his flesh, and seungmin feels himself running out of breath. “calling your friend a nobody,” jisung seethes. “that i have nothing at all. have you even thought about your friends’ feelings for once?”

“stop,” seungmin chokes. “please stop.”

jisung scoffs. “and for what? for you to stomp all over me? i think i’ll take _ that _ from you, dear seungmin-”

but before the miranda’s hand comes down on the amulet, the both of them shriek at the same time. seungmin feels electricity spike up his entire body, from head to toe and back up, and cried loudly. in a flash, the jisung before his eyes conforms back to his own self, squirming in pain, too. the both of them swivel around to find changbin by the trees, his wand pointed right at them. 

when he notices the two seungmins, changbin rubs his eyes. blinks. rubs his eyes again. “the fuck, seungmin? you cloned yourself or something?” he blurts out, bewildered.

“he’s the miranda!” seungmin cries.

“he’s the miranda!” the miranda cries.

changbin drags a palm over his face. “fuck, i should’ve just let chan hyung find you,” he groans. his hand drops to his side, and his other arm stretches out. the tip of his wand glows a glimmery gold. “how the hell am i supposed to know who the fuck is who?”

seungmin snatches this opportunity to pounce onto the miranda. they both land onto the ground, both wrestling for dominance over the other. seungmin hisses as he feels the miranda punch him in the abdomen, and knows the bruise will blossom blue-black by tonight._ that is, _ seungmin gulps, _ if i survive by tonight. _

“he’s the miranda, changbin!” the miranda accuses. enraged, seungmin slams the miranda’s head down on the ground and shouts as the pain ruptures into an explosion in the back of his head. he cries in anguish, before placing both palms down onto the miranda’s chest and pushes.

“what the hell,” changbin breathes. he watches both seungmins screaming as the pain courses through both of them. changbin exchanges puzzled looks between the two boys, frantically searching for some sort of explanation. “what in the world is going on here?”

“he’s the miranda,” seungmin coughs. he tastes iron in the corners of his mouth the harder he presses down on the miranda’s chest. “but when he’s taken my form, his pain is my pain.”

“he’s lying,” the miranda insists. “_ he’s _ the miranda!”

changbin shakily lifts his wand in between the two bodies writhing on the ground. “fuck,” he curses. sweat pours from his scalp as he eyes both seungmins, both so accurately close to the real seungmin. seungmin sees the doubt in his eyes, in the way his arm falters. “fuck, if i kill one of you, i kill the other.”

“c’mon changbin,” the miranda urges. “he’s the miranda, not me!”

“changbin!” seungmin screams. his hands shove down against the miranda’s chest, and he feels the cage of his own ribs cave inwards from the heavy impact. his vision turns hazy. “changbin, just finish it off. stop thinking about me. just finish him off!”

“no way,” changbin shakes his head. he bites down hard on his lower lip. “no way am i killing you, seungmin.”

the ache in his chest is unlike anything seungmin has ever felt before. hot tears leak out of the corners of his eyes from how much in agony he really is. his arms tremble, so much energy flooding out of himself, too much all at once. “just do it, changbin,” seungmin hiccups. “i don’t fucking care, just_ end this _!”

“changbin,” the miranda coughs. he even has the nerve to turn his head and smile weakly at changbin. “i’ll remember you.”

changbin blinks. “y’know,” he says. he begins shuffling closer, and closer to the two bodies, and crouches down. seungmin feels his bones rattle under his skin when changbin gazes right at him. seungmin pleads with his eyes. _ please, changbin, it’s me. not him, it’s me. _

and without any warning, changbin winks at him. he turns to the miranda and sighs. “my seungmin really wouldn’t say something that fucking sappy as his last words.”

the miranda’s eyes widen. changbin smirks and stands. “gotcha,” he says casually, and points a wand at the miranda. his eyes flick over to seungmin’s weary ones, as if staring at him one last time. a last goodbye. seungmin notices the way the centremost of changbin’s eyes glows gold, brighter and brighter as he gazes at seungmin, and-

-that’s it. _ the achille’s heel. _

“changbin.” seungmin squeezes his palms down on the miranda’s chest. by now, his other self has leant up against him, has begun whispering the deranged mantra, simply as warned. 

_ the miranda. the miranda. the miranda. submit yourself to the miranda. _“changbin,” seungmin squeezes his eyes shut, and every memory flickers in his mind. jeongin. the goblins. morgana. the dragons. the pixies. minho. wonpil. his friends. chan, and of course - changbin. when he peels his eyes open, he stares right into changbin’s soul. “my heart,” he whispers. “aim for my heart.”

“what do you mean-”

_ the miranda. the miranda. the miranda. _“my heart,” seungmin cries. “do it, now!”

_ come home, seungmin, come home. _

hesitantly, changbin points his wand right over the miranda’s heart. his fingers shake in trepidation. he looks to seungmin one last time. “are you sure?”

_ come home, seungmin. _

“my heart,” seungmin begs. “end this, please. for everyone.”

_ come home, seungmin. _

“for me.”

every last second slows down. seungmin’s eyes remain fixated on the end of changbin’s wand. they travel up to changbin’s lips, whispering the roman spell under his breath. in a flash, sparks crack and erupt from the tip of the wand, and aim straight, bullseye, into the miranda’s heart; into seungmin’s heart.

_ come home, seungmin, come home. _

because the person seungmin fears the most is himself. because the thing seungmin fears the most is his heart. his heart, which has led him on too many times, has broken him too many times, has doubted him too many times to count. but because he fears himself, seungmin realises, maybe, in another life, he could learn to overcome this fear, to mend his own ends, and to finally trust himself.

☽

and sometimes, seungmin wonders if he’d made the right choices at all. but he knows that this time, he’s made the best choice he could have ever made in his nineteen years of living.

☽

the next time seungmin’s eyes open, he’s blinded by his bright surroundings. alarmed, seungmin swivels around, but all he sees for miles is a bright void, as if he were a blot of ink speckled on a white sheet. he scratches his head, dumbfounded. “it’s like the _ cavum nigram _,” he whispers to himself, “but… brighter.”

“you said it yourself.” seungmin turns around to face wonpil. surprised, seungmin pinches his arm. he hisses in pain, and the first guardian simply chuckles. “what on earth do you think you’re doing?”

“seeing if i’m hallucinating?” seungmin counters. his eyes wander to their vacant surroundings. “where am i? did i die?”

wonpil shrugs. “i can’t tell for sure, because, well…” he hums. “i casted the curse spell.”

seungmin’s eyes widen. “but you don’t have the amulet…”

“i am a predecessor of the amulet,” wonpil says. he smiles graciously at seungmin, his eyes turning upwards into crescents. his laughter is warm, and seeps into seungmin’s heart in ways that only something akin to a homemade soup can do. “perhaps my powers have yet to fade away. and thus, the miranda, and everything-”

“-is over,” seungmin finishes breathily. “and what about you?”

“with every end, a sacrifice must be made,” wonpil explains. he walks over to seungmin, and when they’re close enough, he stretches his arms out and swoops down to embrace seungmin tightly. seungmin sobs into wonpil's arms. he’s not sure why he’s crying, or why he feels so upset. still, he allows himself to bury inside wonpil's hug and cry into his shirt. “it was between you and me.”

“but why choose _ me _?” seungmin murmurs. “you could’ve stayed alive.”

“seungmin,” wonpil tuts. he leans back to brush seungmin’s hair with his delicate fingers. “i’m a few decades short of my death already. technically, I’m not even _ supposed _ to be alive right now. it only makes sense for you to live on. there’s so much more of the world that you have yet to explore.” 

his fingers capture seungmin’s and intertwines them with his own. seungmin stares down at their linked hands, before glancing up at wonpil. “thank you,” he murmurs.

“it’s all thanks to you,” wonpil grins. “if you hadn’t mentioned to changbin of your achille’s heel, i suspect things might’ve gone very wrong, very fast. and, seungmin?” he leans down and presses a short kiss against seungmin’s forehead, feather-light. “i hope all goes well, in every one of your future endeavours, and remember: don’t for a second ever doubt your own self. your capabilities reach far, far out, more than either me or the amulet can perceive.”

one last tear slides down seungmin’s cheek and rolls down his chin, before dissipating into the void. with their hands held, seungmin allows himself to look at wonpil one last time, before his eyelids slide shut.

☽

seungmin wakes up to a pair of lips hovering over his own. and from the looks of it, those lips definitely do _ not _ belong to a certain apprentice.

“jisung, what the fuck!” seungmin screams and launches himself away from jisung. all six people standing around him immediately go silent. their jaws slacken comically wide and their eyes wander to each other, as if searching for some sort of confirmation. if it weren’t for jisung crying out loud, seungmin would’ve suspected the lot of them were statues.

“you’re alive! for real!” jisung wails and throws himself over seungmin’s body. seungmin grunts under the weight of his three friends piling themselves up on top of him. “oh my gosh, we thought you died!”

“then why did you try kissing me?” he grumbles.

as everyone hauls themselves up, jisung chuckles nervously. “well…. i had a predicament.”

“oh, no. i don’t like the sounds of that.”

“so i’m a huuuuuuge fan of snow white and how when she’s poisoned by the apple and kinda died, right?” jisung begins slowly, twiddling his fingers together. “and how the prince comes along and kisses her alive? so i told changbin hyung that, and he went over and kissed you. nothing happened. then i said, ‘well, since _ i’m _ the one who came up with the idea, why don’t i kiss you instead?’ of course, it took about ten minutes of coaxing hyunjinnie here who did not want me even five feet close to you in fear of me trampling over your body, but i promised him pizza, and i _ was _ about to kiss you, but you woke up, i mean not like that’s a bad thing, but now i owe this dumbass here pizza!”

jisung sighs dramatically as he finishes his tale. when he looks back at seungmin, a tear leaks from his eye. “seungmin, we were so worried,” he says, sobbing loudly now.

seungmin smiles softly and takes up jisung’s hand in his. “hey, asshole, i’m alive and well now, aren’t i?”

his eyes travel to felix, to hyunjin, to chan. to changbin. noticing the silence, jisung backs away and allows changbin to walk closer to seungmin, laid on the bed. changbin walks hesitantly, as if doubting seungmin’s existence before his own two eyes. changbin lays a tender hand on seungmin’s arm and another against seungmin’s cheek. his knuckles brush against the apple of his cheekbones lightly, and changbin sighs. “i missed you,” he murmurs. “i was so scared you wouldn’t make it out alive.”

seungmin’s heart blooms into a wildflower, into warmth spreading from the tips of his fingers up to his head, and down to his very toes. when he peers into changbin’s eyes, he watches the golden colour spill out of the centres of his pupils, leaking into his dark irises. they glow softly, and gently, like amber honey tipped from a golden pot. seungmin leans into his touch and presses his lips against changbin’s bruised knuckles. as he kisses them, his touch heals changbin’s wounds. _ the magic continues to live in me _, seungmin thinks to himself with a smile before nuzzling his nose against changbin’s palm.

“i missed you, too,” seungmin whispers back.

“oh, gosh, okay, cut the cheese, people,” felix chuckles. seungmin and changbin immediately back away from each other. “okay, i think now’s a good time to tell seungmin everything, isn’t it?”

“how long have i been out for?’ seungmin asks.

felix glances at the wall clock. “it’s nine p.m. now. about ten hours?”

seungmin groans. “i just remembered i’ve got that test tomorrow-”

“-you’re worried about a _ test _ when you almost died, kid?” chan gasps.

seungmin rolls his eyes. “again, teenager guardian, remember?”

as seungmin leans back against his pillows, he watches his friends ease back into their seats, comforted by seungmin’s presence once again. he gazes at changbin, who simply looks back and grins. his hand travels upwards and nestles itself against his chest, right over his own heart. seungmin does the same.

“alright,” jisung takes a sip of tea. “let’s begin with-”

a familiar yip abruptly erupts from the corner of the room.

“pirrie?” seungmin blurts aloud. he sits up ramrod straight. his jaw drops at the sight of his dog tearing across the bedroom before leaping right into his arms. pirrie slobbers all over the bedsheets, his tail waggling crazier than ever. “but i thought wonpil-”

“-before wonpil casted the spell,” chan explains, “he wanted us to make sure pirrie stayed by your side for as long as you live. he said he wanted pirrie to be a certain reminder of him.”

seungmin grins down at the dog. “aw, little pup, i missed ya,” seungmin giggles. he notices felix’s starry eyes from where he’s sat, and laughs as he hands the puppy over to an overly ecstatic felix. he’s mildly surprised to see chan drop a light kiss against a blushing felix’s forehead, but when he side-eyes changbin rolling his eyes, he knows the love has finally blossomed for them all.

“alright, before i was _ so _ rudely interrupted by someone,” jisung sighs, earning him a round of giggles, “let us begin with the tale of seven courageous guardians, who fought a war to the death, and claimed victory for all…”

☽

“mum, seriously, i don’t get why you need to take photos-”

“-but of course!” his mum rattles away. she fiddles with the camera in her hand. “this is my son’s last year of college, about to go off to a gala with a handsome man on his arm; of course i need to take a photograph of you two gorgeous boys!”

seungmin grumbles. two months later, he hadn’t expected himself to be suited up in an all black tuxedo with gold lining down his coat. the gold boutonniere pinned over his heart gleams under the brightly lit porch. seungmin smooths down his slacks before dutifully striding over to the man seated at the bench on his porch, preoccupied with running his hand through pirrie’s fur.

“hey,” seungmin says. instead of placing a gentle hand on his boyfriend’s back, he settles for slapping his shoulder instead. changbin howls in pain and glares at seungmin in annoyance. “mum wants us to take a photo together.”

“is that so?” changbin sighs, and stands. seungmin swoons at the sight of him in his all-white suit, the gold highlights and boutonniere matching his own. he thinks changbin looks like a regal prince, with his dark hair swept back and his eyelids dusted with gold kohl (not like seungmin will ever say that aloud to him, ever. his ego is already through the roof thanks to his parents). “well, for mrs kim it is.”

seungmin’s mum titters and flushes. “please, changbin ah, you’re too nice,” she gushes. “alright, the both of you, stand by the door. yup, just like that. ph, for heaven’s sake, seungmin, put on a smile! alright, a little closer - yes, wrap that arm around his waist, changbin! okay, three, two, one-”

the flash goes off, and changbin squawks. seungmin’s mum lowers the camera and stares at the photo. “you’re not a fan of the flash, aren’t you?” she mutters, guilty as charged.

changbin reaches up to rub his eyes, but seungmin slaps his hand away. “ow!” changbin cries. “is this gala night or all-you-can-torture-your-boyfriend buffet night?”

seungmin sighs. “you’re gonna rub the makeup away,” he quips. 

“right,” changbin says. he readjusts seungmin’s tie with a heavy sigh. “i’m just not used to this, y’know,” he whispers into seungmin’s ear. “what will your school think of you bringing a foreigner into the school?”

“relax,” seungmin runs his hand down changbin’s shoulder. “people will ask, and i will say you’re a friend from the town over. which is, well, kinda true. and besides, people know that i like boys, too, so that’s not a worry.”

changbin smiles. his eyes flicker gold for a moment, before disappearing with the evening breeze. “alright. I’ll trust you on that one.”

after perhaps two dozen more photos and too many kisses peppered on both their cheeks from seungmin’s mum (and sister, who’d been whining all day about not being able to dress up for the gala. “she’s eleven, binnie,” seungmin admonished, when changbin had begged for seungmin to take her along. “she’ll go to the gala when she’s old enough. now get your ass to the toilet and shower alright, you stink.”), they manage to wrangle themselves into seungmin’s car.

seungmin turns the key in the ignition, and the engine rumbles aloud. but before seungmin can take off, changbin places hand on his wrist. puzzled, seungmin glimpses up to meet his boyfriend’s eyes. “what’s wrong?” seungmin asks.

changbin narrows his eyes. “did you put the ointment on your chest this morning?” he asks.

“yes,” seungmin replies curtly. “is that all?”

“it’s a new batch that chan was concocting this morning. while making out with felix over the cauldron, too. i’m worried he didn’t do it right,” changbin explains. “did the bruise glow gold?”

“yes-”

“-and what about the ointment for your back? you rubbed it, right? i’m frightfully worried because chan was supposed to brew the medicine today but i did not expect to walk into him and felix fu-”

“-yes, i did,” seungmin interrupts. before changbin can continue on, he leans in and presses a chaste kiss on the corner of the other’s lips. “now, please, don’t worry about me, you worrywart. we’ve got a gala to attend.”

changbin arches an eyebrow. “i believe you told me two months ago that you didn’t want to go for the gala,” he says.

seungmin rolls his eyes. “and why exactly are you bringing this up now?” he asks, dumbfounded.

“you seem hesitant to begin driving to our designated spot.”

seungmin pauses momentarily. finally, he succumbs to his own self. “i did say that, didn’t i?”

changbin nods. “frankly, i don’t really intend on kissing you in front of a bunch of strangers,” changbin murmurs. he leans in, and drags seungmin forward with a hold on his chin. their lips touch, and it feels like the first time all over again. seungmin feels a buzz run down his spine, and his lips tingle as they part for air. “but it is your call, of course.”

seungmin groans, and begins to pull out of the garage. “you are indeed an expert at guilt-tripping me,” he grouches, and changbin laughs. the car begins to take a leisurely run down the street, away from seungmin’s school, away from the gala, away from everyone else. 

“and where are you taking me, hm?” changbin asks.

seungmin grins. “you’ll see.”

☽

“i found this place about a year ago,” seungmin says, guiding changbin onto the rooftop. below them, a cafe thrives with synergy, and when they’d entered, the owner had thrown seungmin a wink before sneaking them through the backdoor. "an ex-senior at my school opened this cafe on the outskirts of town, but really, he selected this place because it’s where the stars shine brightest.”

hand in hand, they shuffle towards the railing. changbin’s eyes are wondrous, drinking in the sight of the velvet sky dappled by stars hung from beyond this world. “it’s incredible,” he gasps. 

seungmin looks at changbin. about eleven months ago, he’d never have thought of picking up that amulet calling for his name. about three months ago, he’d never have thought of meeting changbin, or chan, or morgana, or minho, or wonpil, or the miranda. about two months ago, he’d never have thought of proposing to changbin to be his boyfriend.

about one month ago, he’d never have thought of bringing changbin to his safe haven here, right under the moonshine and her starry comrades.

changbin leans against the railing and turns to look at seungmin, too. “thank you for bringing me here,” he says. seungmin tips his head and blushes under changbin’s gaze.

“y’know,” seungmin begins, “before i met you, or chan, or anyone else, i felt… afraid. i was always afraid, of whether we’d win the basketball finals, or whether i’d pass my next test, or whether we’d manage to save the forest for one more day.”

“you still worry about the test part,” changbin says with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

seungmin chuckles. “true. for the most part, i felt lonely. but, after everything, i feel like i’ve found myself. found out that life is more than just second-guessing my next move and regretting my previous actions. sometimes, it can hurt. sometimes. but for the most part, we’ve made it through together, y’know?”

changbin nods. “i’m proud of you,” he says. “my brave, gorgeous, ground-breaking fighter. gosh, i love you so much.”

seungmin freezes up at his words. when changbin notes his discomfort, he backs down. “sorry… was i not meant to say that?”

“no, no,” seungmin says, and captures changbin’s hands in his own. “i was just… surprised. no one’s told me that before. except family, but well, that’s different.” he giggles to himself, out of pure giddiness bubbling inside of him. “i love you too, you know.”

changbin grins. when they kiss, it’s long and drawn out, both hungry and passionate, yet still timid and careful. changbin licks along seungmin’s lower lip and peppers light kisses on his cheeks, making seungmin squirm and laugh in his arms.

when they pull back, changbin smiles. “i’ve never told you about my eyes, have i?” he asks suddenly.

seungmin shakes his head. “it’s your weakest point, and they glow blue when you’re angry, and gold when… well, i’m not too sure.”

changbin squeezes seungmin’s hand, and they both look up at the stars as changbin says, “well, they glow red when i’m very angry, blue when i’m frustrated. dark green when i’m jealous-”

“-ooh, i’d like to see that-”

“-shut up. violet when i’m sad. and gold when i feel a sudden bout of love.”

when changbin tilts his head towards seungmin, his eyes glisten, glimmering in the brightest orbs of gold. “and i love you, seungmin. i will love you, even when you’re bruised and black and blue, even when you’re angered by me, even when we’re old and aging. it seems like a stretch, but,” he kisses seungmin’s temple, and seungmin’s heart leaps and dances with the airy spring-summer breeze. “i have found a home in you, my dearest - and i intend to stay here.”

seungmin grins, and allows his eyes to close. this time, he’s reassured that he’ll no longer awake to a black or white void, and instead in the arms of another. this time, he won’t hide himself anymore, because no matter what, his friends are here. chan is here. changbin is here. wonpil is here. everyone is here. and finally: this is who they really are. 

this is who seungmin really is.


	6. afterword

[this is my first time writing an afterword for a skz fic? i don’t think many people write afterwords for fanfics anyways wfniewfhff lmAO i’m that extra.] [please ignore all awkwardness]

first off, thank you so so much for reading this work of mine! i sincerely appreciate y’all battling through those 41k words,, certainly it was no easy bridge to cross. because this work of mine probably sucked out the most of me to write, i guess here’s what i want to say about skz, this work, and everything else in between [yay more reading]

**(i) background**

to be entirely honest, this idea came to mind wayyyy back at the end of may [google docs stats say the 31st of may, to be exact] which definitely surprised me. perhaps why i’m surprised is because i completely forgot i had a first draft in my docs :”) i only discovered it when i was clearing my docs of uncompleted drafts and stumbled upon it.

the first draft was titled ‘catch me in your illusion’, and a lot of ideas have definitely evolved since then, but the gist goes the same: 00line guardians, and witch changbin. the differences? no chan, no minho, no woojin. instead of being a sad gay single, seungmin was initially bfs with jeongin [and broke up with him after ouch]. and instead of the _ argantum silvam _ , the forest was named the _ myrkviðr _, which is old norse for ‘dark wood’ or ‘black forest’. can’t believe i didn’t stick with THAT name smh. ooh, and one more fact: instead of a bow and arrows, felix was a knife stabber. idk but imagine felix stabbing goblins with knives das p hawt.

the reason why i completely forgot about that first draft was because this year has been really hectic for me. 2019, in general, was a year of tumultuous chaos of studies and co-curricular activities. i threw myself into lots of activities, from editing a school magazine [resulting in the occasional 4am sleeps] and being involved in organising school events. i only really started working on this whole-heartedly at the start of nov after my finals,, this entire monologue makes me sound like a sad studyholic but such is life. still, i’m glad i made time for myself at night and typed this to my heart’s content hehe.

**(ii) inspiration**

i was mainly inspired by this netflix cartoon show my brother and i binge watched called ‘trollhunters: tales of arcadia’. laugh all you want at the title, or the fact that i watched a cartoon, but it’s seriously impacted me. the animations, the designs, and the storyline are absolutely fantastic, and i was hooked on it for all three seasons. if you watch, or have watched, this show, you’ll realise that i’ve drawn plenty of elements from the show: the amulet, the idea of protecting a certain fantasy community from evil forces, friendship, and a character’s name [morgana].

to be frank with y’all, i’m not sure when my mind drew inspiration from this show and turned it into a skz au of my own. still, i seriously enjoyed this series, and it’s worthwhile watching as well.

**(iii) the characters**

without fail, i knew i wanted this to be a seungbin-centric au from the very beginning, and for seungmin to be the sort of chosen one in this work. but being me, i wanted hyunsung. and chanlix. and jeongin. and minho. and woojin. all in one work. without a single doubt, i started writing.

if you happen to have read a work of mine before, i don’t usually go on very much when it comes to world-building and character development. to make things easy for me, i go straight for a non-famous au with my characters in long boring conversations, some gimmicks and right into the romance at the end. i never really plan ahead, which was what really held me back from wanting to write a chaptered fic. i’m usually organised, but when it comes to writing, my ideas simply explode and i word vomit by furiously typing on my keyboard like it’s on fire. 

knowing that this was gonna be a really, reeeeaaaallllyyyy long write, i planned ahead. sometime in the middle, i knew seungmin was going to face himself off. one kid’s room was posted just two nights ago in the time of writing this, and it makes me confident that i chose seungmin well. he’s really just a strong kid who maintains his composure most of the time but gets ticked off easily by his friends or, in this case, changbin. i guess i incorporated that in this seungmin, and his character develops over those five chapters.

another character i actually want to highlight is woojin. pirrie was really just a dog i named, adapted from one of my previous seungbin fics. pirrie’s a play on wonpil’s name. pil. pillie. pirrie. but sometime between chapter one and two, i realised a way to incorporate woojin into this au. totally did not expect him to play that major of a role, but then again, like i said: poor planning. gdi chien.

**[edited 13/09/2020: in light of recent events regarding woojin, i've removed him from this work and instead replaced him with wonpil himself]**

and the rest of the characters are pretty much how i depict skz. i’ve been listening to their music and watching them grow since shortly after district 9 debut, so it’s not too tough for me to draw their personalities into this au. though…. I kinda really wish minho would pull off that pixie prince outfit one day. dark green robe!!!!!!! silver eyeshadow!!!!!! who wouldn’t want that!!!!!!

**(iv) the storyline**

as for the storyline, when i started off with chapter one, i had a general idea of what i was going to do. it wasn’t until i started writing chapter two that i realised the entire plot, the arc of the storyline, and just how many words it was going to be [oop]. i’ve never been a great planner when it comes to writing fics, so i guess this is just a representation of that! 

but i knew i wanted to write something fantasy, with my boys. i feel like the storyline was okay, but my writing was a bit off at some points, especially when it came to the big battle scene. i was contemplating over that segment for a really long time, and took me a while to figure out how to execute the battle. i’m still growing, and improving on my writing, with every fic a little bit better than my last [i hope!] if the storyline lacked something, or anything, constructive criticism is welcome in my inbox :D

**(v) the elements [and my flaws]**

the amulet was definitely the main element. not much is said about it actually, other than the fact that woojin received this from his father and seungmin found it because it was chanting its name. i feel like i didn’t stress enough on just how important the amulet really is, and why the miranda is so eager to chase after it. whilst i did reason the miranda’s intentions, i feel i lacked a bit in that department, but at the same time, this is my first time building such a world with so many details to cover and so many plot holes to ensure were filled;; if you continue reading below, there’s another reason why i didn’t really stress so much about the amulet… 

next, the miranda. the miranda is only revealed in the second last chapter, but was insinuated in the third. the reason why the miranda isn’t given pronouns is because no one knows their true form; instead, they leech off of other people’s fears. something i could’ve developed on, but instead i made the miranda sound like a last minute idea. whoops.

the forest creatures are also another element. if minho had really called upon the entire forest and warned them, wouldn’t they have come and helped the war? lots of details about the war were left out because this work is seungmin-centric and we only really knew about seungmin putting out the fires and him facing the forlorn miranda. that’s something i didn’t address in this work.

lastly, the significance of the characters’ ‘achilles’ heels’. i’ve always found the story of achilles a rather fascinating one, though i admittedly read a much more condensed version of the entire story. everyone has a weak point, and it’s mentioned in the first chapter that morgana wasn’t able to harness changbin’s magic not because she didn’t have the ability to, but because she didn’t strike his most vulnerable point: his eyes. it’s foreshadowed in the part where changbin’s eyes glow blue when he cracks morgana’s wings. in the end, seungmin [read: BIG BRAIN MOMENT] figured it out and knew exactly what his weakest point was: his heart.

**(vi) the aftermath**

halfway through writing this, i knew it wasn’t going to be something i’ll give up. and thus, i present to you two ideas in mind already: a hyunsung prequel and a chanlix sequel!!!!!!!

i haven’t fully developed on either of these ideas, but i’ll try my best to make them happen. i have a fair idea of what’s to happen in both of these, but i really cannot promise on producing these two babies by next year [huge huge exams next year…. and this studyholic signed herself up for ten subjects = 24 papers = >30 hrs of exams lmao what a dumb bih] 

**(vii) the end**

i would like to say thank you so much for reading this au!! i don’t really care about how many people will read this, but this fic is, to date, my fav skz fic and definitely one of my fav fics altogether. i poured a lot of heart and soul into it, and i really want to expand on this world one day. if not next year, then sometime after that. and as a last note, remember to always stay golden even when you’re black and blue - for good things come to those who wait <33

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/sideofstew) // [curious cat](https://curiouscat.qa/softtofustew) // [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/softtofustew)


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